


A Lost Cause (Until I Met You)

by versol



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Fluff and Smut, CEO Byun Baekhyun, Light Angst, M/M, bbh drives a cool motorcycle, this was supposed to be a oneshot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2019-09-13 23:36:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 44,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16901937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/versol/pseuds/versol
Summary: A struggling, small restaurant owner on the outside of the city is slowly losing hope in his establishment until one night a storm brings in a stranger with a broken bike





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> me??? with another update????????
> 
> yeah, and guess what I'm super stoked!
> 
> This was another one of those *ideas* that I couldn't get out of my head. Turns out it was a lot bigger than I thought. This was originally supposed to be a one shot, but considering how the first chapter already has like 5.5k alone, I decided to split it up.
> 
> also the motorcycle bit was slightly(very) inspired by Junmyeon in Rich Man, Poor Woman- But tempo is a thing now too so....
> 
> I guess I need to mention (i keep forgetting) that is is unbetad bc I have no friends. That aside, enjoy anyways, I really like where this is going so far.

 

 

 

There’s always something about the younger kids that Kyungsoo always finds himself managing to envy. Cool looks, lots of friends, money, a stable job. He’s the same age as all the other kids that walk past his dusty, fading restaurant but he still feels a little out of place.

 

He’s wearing his jeans cuffed on top of some low cut sneakers. Is that weird? He saw his dad do it all the time, but he doesn’t see anyone do it these days. Especially paired with a t-shirt tucked in.

 

“Hey, Kyungsoo, you’re doing it again.”

 

“Hm? Oh,” Kyungsoo takes one last glance out the front window of his shop before he turns his attention back to Jongin, who is sitting at a nearby table, a hefty, piping bowl of ramen in front of him.

 

He’s Kyungsoo’s only customer anymore.

 

A broke city kid fresh out of college who lives in an apartment a block away and doesn’t know how to properly function a stove, so he comes here instead. He’s a year or two younger than Kyungsoo, and is flourishing more than he realizes.

 

Kyungsoo, 28 years old, has taken over his parents restaurant after his father died and his mother threatened to close it down because she didn’t feel like it was worth it.

 

It was their pride and joy at one point. Kyungsoo has pretty much grown up in it, it’s his life too, so he told his mother he would take over and make it what it used to be. “On dad,” he had said, “I promise it’ll be what I remember it.”

 

Only it isn’t.

 

After his parents left people stopped coming. That was four years ago and Kyungsoo has hardly seen a soul in here since then.

 

He spent his entire childhood learning the skills from his parents. He didn’t spend time with friends after school, he worked here in his teenage years, he didn’t even go to college. He had to teach himself how to do all the numbers. Surely he isn’t that bad. After all the place is still standing.

 

“Maybe mom is right. Maybe I should just shut the place down.” He says. The words slipped past his lips so easily in the silent room that it made Jongin almost choke.

 

“You _what_?” He coughs, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he stares at Kyungsoo in pure shock.

 

Kyungsoo glances across the table at him, “This place is a lost cause, Jongin. I’m going into debt, you’re the only person in here anymore, I don’t really know what much else I can do.”

 

“Renovate it? A lot of people are into the modern thing lately. Big trend.” Jongin replies,

 

“How? By taking out another loan and paying that off too? That’s one more thing I have to worry about. Besides I… What’s wrong with what’s in here?”

 

Jongin pushes his bowl to the side, and sits back in his chair slowly. A loud, drawn own creak squeals across through the restaurant. Jongin says nothing, only stares at Kyungsoo knowingly.

 

Kyungsoo tears his eyes away to back out the window. The streetlights are on now, he people passing are beginning to dwindle slowly along with the light.

 

“Think about it,” Jongin says, straightening his black tie back up and standing, throwing his jacket over his shoulder.

 

“Maybe a miracle will come along. Or this storm will blow the whole place away. Then you really won’t have to worry.” He winks, picking up his backpack and walking towards the door, telling Kyungsoo not to worry about a thing and that Jongin is all he needs to keep him in business.

 

Kyungsoo spends an indefinitely long amount of time staring out the window and watching the darkness cover the narrow street outside.

 

So out of place, he thinks, rising to go back upstairs to his very small, very crowded apartment above the shop. A small, pitched squeak can be heard as he rises from the chair.

 

Thanks, Jongin. Another chore Kyungsoo is gonna have to do numbers over tonight as if he doesn’t have enough already.

 

Papers and numbers. That’s all his life is anymore other than the one bowl of fresh ramen he serves to Jongin at six.

 

All he does is stress over work and fight with money hungry property mutts. He stares at black and white words that use to intimidate him and now they only go over his head. He’s numb to it now and he started to lose track of the reason he even does any of this in the first place.

 

He’s been walking on thin ice for three years and now the cracks have began to split. Jongin hasn’t been the only person to come in. He’s had small dates and families come in but vey, very rarely.

 

Maybe his food isn’t the way his dad made it. Older regulars have said it tastes the same, almost better than his dads but if they liked it that much it should have been keeping him in business, right?

 

_“Kyungsoo, no one comes here anymore. Imagine the potential this place could have if you let go and put it in the hands of someone more… Responsible.”_

 

_“You’ve been trying to keep this joint in one piece since you old man died. Give it up, it’s gonna turn to dust kid.”_

 

“Dust,” Kyungsoo mutters, blinking away the burn in his eyes from staring at the papers for so long. Maybe these stupid old guys are right. Maybe he wasn’t meant for this like he thought.

 

Thunder rattles his window and rolls through the sky. Something heavy was moving in and for a second Kyungsoo almost hopes that Jongin was right, maybe it’ll blow this place away so no one would have to deal with it.

 

There’s a few taps at his window, followed by more, and suddenly there’s sheets of rain slamming into his window.

 

Kyungsoo sits back into his chair with a sigh and watches the rain fall outside and trickle down his window. He doesn’t know how his dad managed to do this for so long and be so excited all the time. He remembers being a kid and shuffling into the front room half asleep because the light was on and he’d see his dad working away. The next morning he’d be in the kitchen preparing meals by the time Kyungsoo was leaving for school.

 

Still, even as a grown man, Kyungsoo has no idea how his dad managed to do all that. He had to have been tired, no doubt. Kyungsoo doesn’t even do anything besides stare at papers and yell at old guys and he’s exhausted by the afternoon.

 

He hates this. He hates that he’s been leading a life, wasting his twenties away doing nothing. Putting himself through all this stress, all this worry and anxiety over what?

 

A lost cause.

 

He should have listened to his mom after his dad passed and just shut the place down and locked it away in his memories.

 

He hates that he has no friends, no true past relationships, no exciting memories, he doesn’t even have a college education all because he’s been having to sit around and file through words that now bleed into the paper. He’s out of loop with the trends, his phone is ancient, his mind is tired, his eyes are sore all the time.

 

It’s not worth it.

 

There’s another faint crash, making Kyungsoo’s shoulders jump as he stands over the stove.

 

Another follows behind it immediately, followed by… another?

 

It’s not thunder, it’s something else. Kyungsoo almost decides against investigating but the more it persists the more annoyed he’s going to become. No one should be out at this hour, especially with this weather.

 

The male groans and he turns the heat off and hurries down into the restaurant to investigate.

 

The shop has wooden doors. Old school, rustic, Kyungsoo likes it because the wind doesn’t blow them around as easily during weather like this. There’s a series of bangs against the wood followed muffled calls and Kyungsoo is almost ready to throw a bowl at the stranger.

 

He unlatches the locks, turns the knob to the door, and is sent straight back into the floor as soon as the door flies open.

 

Wind and rain come hurling in, along with a body that’s apologizing profusely, trying to help Kyungsoo up, and close the door at the same time.

Poor Kyungsoo didn’t even get a chance to look at the guy, he about fell on top of Kyungsoo, leaving him feeling far more awake than he was before.

 

“Jesus, oh my god, are you okay? I couldn’t see inside and the wind is crazy. I didn’t really think you were gonna answer and- Fuck, I’m so sorry-“

 

“I’m fine.” Kyungsoo mumbles, latching the door shut once again and finally turning to look at the stranger and he instantly feels his stomach do a 180.

 

The guy is really handsome. But he’s soaked. Dripping wet all over the floor as he looks at Kyungsoo with a guilty smile on his face.

 

“Oh!” He exclaims, “I- My bike broke down and I live in the middle of the city… I’m not trying to be a nuisance I swear I just- Ah-“ His hand reaches up to push wet strands of hair back nervously,  “My name is Byun Baekhyun, I-“

 

“Cool,” Kyungsoo butts, tone dead, purely uninterested in the guys intentions.

 

“Take your jacket off and hand it to me. You’re dripping all over my floor and I just cleaned it today.” He finishes, extending his arm and watching g as Baekhyun’s eyes grow in realization before he slips off the leather jacket he has on, and hands it to Kyungsoo, who says nothing as he snatches it and takes it upstairs to dry.

 

By the time he gets downstairs Baekhyun is totally barefoot and shaking like a drenched kitten. His arms are tucked in close to his sides, his feet are overlapping each other, his teeth are chattering, but he remains in the same spot he’s been in since he got here.

 

“What did-“

 

“You said I was getting water all over your floor. I didn’t wanna make a big mess so... I took it upon myself.” The man smiles. It’s such a foreign feeling, maybe it’s just because Kyungsoo isn’t used to seeing people anymore. Much less people like this.

 

“Sit down.” Kyungsoo groans defeatedly, turning his back again and stalking to the kitchen, flipping on the lights into the dining area as well. The shades are down, no one will notice if the lights are on, as if they’d care anyways.

 

Kyungsoo takes his time pulling out the ingredients. Samgyetang would really be the way to go but his chicken is frozen and he can’t really wait that long for it to thaw. So he opts for kimchi stew off the top of his head, hurriedly trying to pull out pots and pans and veggies and tofu as if the guy outside was near death.

 

He’s getting to cook for someone else tonight that isn’t Jongin. It’s little things like this that make him excited and get his heart feeling warm for just a little bit. He hums quietly as he chops vegetables and throws together the meal in what feels like a record amount of time.

 

When Kyungsoo makes it back to the dining area, Baekhyun is seated at a table quietly off to the side. Looking around at the interior and playing with his fingers. When he sees Kyungsoo come out of the kitchen he smiles a big, grateful smile and gasps when Kyungsoo puts the bowl in front of him.

 

“Can I get you some coffee? Tea?” He asks, his demeanor has totally changed after he walked back into the kitchen to make this guys meal. Baekhyun hums in thought, his lips push out in a small pout as he thinks, and looks up at Kyungsoo, “Have anything with ginger?” He asks.

 

Kyungsoo nods and makes his way back, quickly glancing over his shoulder to see Baekhyun taking a spoon and immediately digging in. It’s a bit strange to see someone from the center of the city on the very far edge of town, it makes him a little curious as to what his purpose was for being all the way out here,

especially at this hour. Kyungsoo isn’t going to ask, he doesn’t like prying into people’s personal lives, especially strangers.

  


Another loud slam of thunder echoes through the shop as Kyungsoo pushes the door to the kitchen open and makes his way back to the man’s table, who is eating silently. He thanks him as soon as Kyungsoo sets the cut down, “This is incredible, you know? Where’d you learn to do this?”

 

Kyungsoo’s eyes widen, he feels the back of his neck heat up and he sputters to look for the clear, obvious answer.

“M-My parents.” He says finally, watching Baekhyun nod and take another big mouthful of tofu and veggies.

 

“Well-” He says in between bites, “ ‘S fucking amazing.”

 

Kyungsoo quietly thanks him and is about to awkwardly go and sit in the kitchen but he has a lot of questions for the stranger who, quite literally, stormed into his restaurant.

 

“So…” He stars, shifting his weight from one leg to another, “You said you lived in the middle of the city, right?”

 

“Mhm,” Baekhyun hums, leaning back in his chair which emits a squeak that almost makes Kyungsoo visibly cringe.

 

“Why are you all the way out here so late?” Kyungsoo questions, “Especially during a storm.”

 

As if on cue, lightning flashes immediately followed by a loud crash of thunder that causes the lights to flicker in the restaurant, making the two males look around at the light fixtures curiously. Kyungsoo sincerely hopes he doesn’t lose power. At least not yet.

 

“I work at a media company in the middle of the city,” His voice gets quiet and he shifts in his seat abashed, “I ride out here sometimes just to destress… I guess I lost track of time when it had started raining. I thought I could make it home but my luck kinda fell through.”

 

Kyungsoo hums in acknowledgement, finding himself in an awkward position yet again but Baekhyun is the one to fire away, “So you own this place I’m guessing? Or your parents?”

 

“Uh, yeah… I do, I guess.” Kyungsoo is not about to tell his life story to someone, especially now that he’s hanging onto this place by a thread.

 

“You guess?” The man repeats, looking up at Kyungsoo unsure.

 

Maybe he should sit down, but that seems to casual, but then again he doesn’t want to stand either. “Uhm,” Kyungsoo sighs in frustration both from his thoughts and his sudden position as he pulls a chair out across the table, “I do… Own it…” He mutters, shifting around to try and ease the tension he can feel creeping up between them. He’s not going to explain his situation, he can’t.

 

Baekhyun nods across the table, the longer Kyungsoo eyes him the more he can see the man wanting to ask more questions and Kyungsoo is quick to change the subject before Baekhyun can press anything else.

 

“You said you worked at a media company right?”

 

Baekhyun looks at him from over the top of his cup and hums an ‘mhm’ as he sets it back on the table, “Yeah, it’s called G-Light Media.” he smiles, “Been there for a few years, it’s a pretty nice place.”

 

“G-Light?” Kyungsoo repeats, trying to make sure what he heard was right, as Baekhyun nods, “Yeah, I don’t get it either.” He chuckles, taking another sip of tea before he continues eating.  His hair is finally starting to dry,

 

“So what made you decide to start a business way out here?”

 

Twenty questions. Kyungsoo dreads this. There’s no way he’s gonna get through these next few minutes like this, his head is probably going to implode from explaining himself so much.

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t like talking about himself to strangers. Close friends like Jongin are different, he’s known Jongin for over a year now and he can trust him with what he has to say, but Baekhyun is a stranger, someone who literally showed up at his doorstep and he barely knows anything about.

 

“I didn’t… I mean,” He shakes his head trying to find the right words without sounding too harsh, “It was my parents but they were getting too old to take care of it so I stepped in place.”

 

Baekhyun hums,  “How long have you been in their place for?”

 

“Uhm,” Kyungsoo actually has to stop and think for a moment, quietly counting up the years in his head, “About four years.” He says finally.

 

“Wah,” Baekhyun gasps, “That’s cool. I’d suck at running a business. Too many numbers and people being overly serious. I really admire people who can though, that’s guts.”

 

“It’s a constant game of tug of war.” Kyungsoo sighs, thinking of all the greedy people that come his way trying to force him to turn the place over. His head falls onto his hand, and he stares blankly at an empty space in the room, “You just need to know your way around their heads. They try to intimidate you, it’s just a matter of using their own forces against them.”

 

Another boom rattles the sky, making Kyungsoo sit up off the table in a start. He’s tired and he hasn’t even done anything today. He won’t rush though, there’s a comfortable feeling about Baekhyun’s presence that lets his mind just drift where ever.

 

“People really do anything for money, huh?” Baekhyun huffs, staring thoughtfully at a chunk of tofu before he shoves it into his mouth.

 

Yeah, they really will.

 

Kyungsoo stands up from his seat and shuffles over to the window of his shop, taking a peek through the blinds only to be greeted by a muddled mess of rain and the faint glimmer of street lamps and neon signs outside. This isn’t going to be letting up anytime soon. Baekhyun’s bike has broken down, he’s stuck here.

Kyungsoo could just direct him to a hotel, but that’s sending him back out in the rain he was trying so hard to get out of. He can’t do that.

 

Kyungsoo peels his eyes away from the mess outside and glances at Baekhyun, who is quietly typing on his phone as he eats.

 

Kyungsoo has to finish his paperwork. He has to finish his landlord in the morning, he has no idea what to do with the stranger sitting in his restaurant now.

 

“You’re more than welcome to stay here for tonight. I live right upstairs.”

 

That wasn’t supposed to come out.

 

Kyungsoo is mentally taking his head against the window as Baekhyun looks over at him red faced like he’s just seen something he shouldn’t. Count on Kyungsoo to make something awkward ten times more awkward and then left trying to pick up the pieces.

 

“Wh- Are you sure? I mean I can leave, really. I just needed somewhere safe to leave my motorcycle I  can-”

 

“I have a couch and a meeting tomorrow morning with my landlord. If you’re out by nine tomorrow, that couch is all yours.”  Kyungsoo cuts, walking back to the table to take Baekhyun’s now empty bowl and mug back to the kitchen. He’ll take care of them tomorrow, he’s got too much to finish right now to worry about a couple of dishes.

 

“But what about the food?” He asks, following Kyungsoo into the kitchen and staring at him in total shock as he watches the male put the dishes away.

 

“You’ve suffered enough tonight.” Kyungsoo starts, trying to wipe that worried look off the other mans face, “It’s on me.”

 

“I’ll be out by eight then.” Baekhyun smiles, turning around to let Kyungsoo lead the way back up to his place. The worst part of the storm has subsided now, but the thunder is still rolls occasionally and there’s still flashes of lightning going off every couple of minutes. The rain is still pretty heavy, slamming against the windows of Kyungsoo’s tiny little space he calls home.

 

He used to have a spare bedroom, the one that used to be his as a child but he then turned into an office after his mother moved. The space reminded her too much his father and it pained her to even stay, so Kyungsoo did everything he could to get her out and even now he still isn’t sure if she’s satisfied. He visits often, brings home the meals she makes for him, and tells her that the restaurant is doing great, and that he is too.

 

“Your jacket is hanging in that little closet over there, by the way.” Kyungsoo points to a small closet door off towards the kitchen where the washer and dryer sit in.

“You can get it in your way out in the morning.”

 

“Stay right here, I’ll be back.”

 

Kyungsoo hurries to find whatever blankets and spare pillows he has. It’s not like he has people over often, or ever, for that matter.

 

It’s not like his place looks like hell though. It’s mostly tidy, he keeps his stuff off the floor, he was raised to be a mostly decent human. Kyungsoo just isn’t used to being a host to company. He’s lacking in being considerate, as he keeps his sentences short and straight to the point, but he is polite enough at making a meal, conversation, and offering his couch to a literal stranger. Not that bad. Just awkward.

 

Baekhyun is still standing where Kyungsoo left him when he returns with a sheet, a few flimsy blankets and a pillow. It’ll last the guy for tonight and it won’t be a lot to wash after he leaves anyways.

 

Baekhyun accepts everything with a shy smile but bold ‘thank you’.

 

“Help yourself to anything you may need, all I ask is that you don’t break anything because chances are I’m too broke to afford a replacement.” Maybe that was a bad joke, Baekhyun’s eyes widen a little and his lips fall apart in momentary shock,  “Bathroom is back there on your left.” Kyungsoo says, pointing to the hall that sits by his office and hurries off without another word before he possibly makes things more awkward.

 

Kyungsoo jumps on the opportunity to duck into his office for the rest of the night and finish off the literal mountain of paperwork that’s been taunting him.

 

Now that the rain has subsided, along with the rage behind it, concentrating is a little easier but the lingering fact that a stranger is in his living does not cease. It’s not like Kyungsoo has anything valuable out there, but still, it’s all he has.

 

But Baekhyun has a really nice leather jacket, and he drives what’s probably a really nice motorcycle. Add on the fact that he lives and works in the middle of the city and you’ve got a prime man of status. Basically everything Kyungsoo isn’t.

 

He has no idea how long he spent working, he lost count of the times he has taken his glasses off to run at his eyes or fell asleep at his desk.

 

By the time he flicks off the light to his office and closes the door he can catch the outline of a small lump on the couch.

 

Everything seems to be in its place, it’s good enough for him as he sulks into his room and double checks if his alarm is set to wake him up to face an entire day of dread.

 

And it does, at 6:30 sharp Kyungsoo is blindly looking for his glasses on his nightstand and pulling himself out of bed.

 

If it wasn’t for the folded blankets on the couch when he shuffles out to the living room he would’ve almost forgotten about the man he let stay over last night.

 

Baekhyun. That was him.

 

Kyungsoo nearly misses the note that’s on top, almost dropping it as he retrieves the blankets from their place. He picks it up looks it over, then sits on the arm of the couch to look it over _again_.

  


_You’re food was really good and I couldn’t leave without paying for it. Or tipping my gracious cook who never introduced himself.;)_

  


_P.S. You should really fix those chairs !!!_

 

 -  _ _Baekhyun <3__

 

  
  


Then he sees the check, which had fallen to the floor… For 1 million won.

 

This... Is a joke.

 

This stupid guy who’s bike broke broke down left Kyungsoo his _own_ money and Kyungsoo never did introduce himself.

 

He groans as he tosses the pile of blankets back onto the couch (Baekhyun did a really messy job at folding them), Kyungsoo won’t have enough time to give this back to him before his meeting but he’s definitely going after.

 

A quick internet search after spending way too much time trying to remember the name of that company and he finds the address, writes it down, and puts it on top of his paperwork so he won’t forget, along with the check, which has little cartoon corgis printed all over it.

 

What a strange guy.

 

 

\- - -

  


 

If it wasn’t for the fact that he had somewhere to go before he had to open up shop, Kyungsoo would have gone home and slept until opening.

 

His whole morning has been exhausting. His landlord has been not so subtly dropping his word in about the state of the place, and Kyungsoo feels like his head is about to roll off his shoulders.

 

“Kyungsoo, you’re a great kid, you have a lot of guts to try and keep this place open but look at you, you’re falling behind on payments. People have been asking for months if they can buy this place out.” His landlord is repeating that threat he uses to try and get Kyungsoo to fall under and just give in already again. He's seen people ogle his shop from outside before, he watches them look inside the windows and talk about how with a little work, it could totally be something great.

 

As if it never used to be.

 

“I know." He breathes, "You and everyone else have threatened me enough.” He wants to roll his eyes, he does, but he’s polite, he won’t. He just stares blankly at the man like he always has, hoping he can’t see Kyungsoo’s pent up frustration.

 

“I know you have good intentions,” The man sighs,  “But you’re falling behind. Accept that your parents no longer have anything to do with this place and move on in your life. Let someone have their own fresh start there.”

 

Move on. Prick makes it sound so easy. Like this little establishment hasn’t been the focus and prime of Kyungsoo’s life. Like it hasn’t been his heart and a piece that makes who he is. Moving on from this isn’t something he can do so easily.

The promise he made to his parents all these years is what’s eating him alive. He can’t disappoint his parents like this, not after how long he’s dedicated himself to this, not after he told his father on his deathbed before he passed.

 

“Give me one last chance.” Kyungsoo sputters, trying to look for one last escape, one last chance at a hopeful future.

“If I don’t have this place together within the next six months then I’ll go. Final.”

 

What did he just do.

 

“Kyungs-“

 

“Six months,” he breathes, “Please.”

 

“I’ll see you next month with your rent.”

  


Kyungsoo thanks him, bows, and rushes out of the building, cursing to himself all the way down the street as he fixes the papers inside the folder they’re in and catches a light blue, corgi covered check.

 

Maybe he should go back. This really could cover his ass for a good minute. He can pay Baekhyun back later.

 

But you’re falling behind.

 

No, he can’t do this. This is someone else’s money that he doesn’t deserve and Kyungsoo is going to shove in Baekhyun’s face if he doesn’t take it back, no questions asked.

 

This is Kyungsoo’s fault, his own doing, and if he can’t fix it then he has no one else to blame but himself.

 

He checks the time as he steps on the train, he’s about an hour and a half before he needs to be back here. A little tight on time, but he’ll make it.

 

It wouldn’t be his first time that he’s felt a little off about his appearance in public. He’s got on some khakis (cuffed) and a blue sweater about two sizes too big.

 

And a flip phone from about 5 years ago.

 

Everyone around him has a smart phone, and Kyungsoo won’t lie, he envies everyone that has one. He could get so much more done if he had one of those, but priorities.

 

Next one being to find “G-Light Media”.

 

He wrote down the address, but as soon as steps out of the subway there’s no point anymore.

 

The place is a labyrinth of building and roads. Kyungsoo hasn’t been to this part of the city in about a year and every time he comes here he always forgets it’s a train ride away. So much louder, busier, and populated than his part.

 

If he can just find the street, he won’t have any trouble.

 

It’s a lot of walking, a lot of looking like he’s never been here before, a lot of guessing and trying to find a street sign and then turning around until he manages to find it.

 

He really should get out more.

  


When he walks up to the building that he had ended passing about three times until he noticed the sign on one end, he catches a glimpse of a motorcycle, army green and shining against the light, a black and red helmet hangs off of one of the handlebars.

 

It could be Baekhyun’s, it could be anyone’s.

 

He walks in, uses common sense and walks to the front desk where a young man smiles up at him, the name place on his computer reads “Oh Sehun - Secretary” And Kyungsoo takes his chance.

 

“Uhm, I need to speak to…” he glances at the name written in the check, looks back down at the man, “Byun Baekhyun.”

 

Immediately the mans eyes widen, then his brows press together in confusion, “What’s your name?” He asks.

 

Name? Why does he need Kyungsoo’s name? Security reasons?

 

“D-Do Kyungsoo.” He replies, voice half unsure.

 

The young man types a few things into his computer and shakes his head, “No, I don’t see you for any appointments. Do you know CEO Byun personally?”

  


“CEO?” Kyungsoo asks, he’s pretty sure he stopped breathing.

 

Fucking CEO? That fucker said he “just worked” here. He never mentioned he owned the place.

 

“Wait you-“

 

“Sehun-ah!” There’s a loud voice that carries from off to the side and Kyungsoo could faint after the sight he sees striding across the room with a two other men behind him.

 

Fucking Baekhyun… The _CEO_ of this _entire_ company.

 

He stops when he sees Kyungsoo, the two stare at each other in pure shock once they catch each other and Baekhyun has he absolute nerve to smile, turns to the man next to him and practically yells, “That's him! That’s the restaurant man, Jongdae!”

 

Kyungsoo swallows everything he wants to say, he won’t let this tie him up, he’s here for one purpose.

 

He takes the chance and strides up to the men, ignoring the secretary almost bolting out of his chair. He hold the check up, stops dead in his tracks in front of Baekhyun and doesn’t let the eye contact die.

 

“What is this?” He asks, holding the check up and watching Baekhyun’s eyes turn into crescents, “That’s yours.” He smiles, “You didn’t see my note?”

 

“CEO?” Kyungsoo asks again, not even caring that Baekhyun didn't properly answer his previous question. 

 

Baekhyun’s smile falls, but his face still has mischief written all over it.

 

“I didn’t mention it for a reason.” He says, face immediately lighting up again, “That’s yours to fix those chairs, mister.”

 

“No, I’m fine. I don’t need this. Take your stupid money and go get your bike fixed.” Kyungsoo snaps, of this guy doesn’t take this back Kyungsoo is going to be faced with no choice.

 

“Hm? Oh, yeah," He chuckles, "That got fixed this morning. I took care of it.” He smiles, “Here, walk with me. Jongdae, Minseok, I’ll be right back.” He turns to smile to the men behind him who are stare at him just as confused as Kyungsoo, if not even more.

 

“No, just-“ Kyungsoo takes his chance, grabs Baekhyun’s wrist and plants the check straight into his palm, forcing the man's fingers closed around the paper, “Take your stupid money.” He finishes, turning around and hurrying out of the building as fast as he possibly can without looking like a complete maniac.

 

Yes, he could have used that, but he isn’t that accepting, especially of a complete stranger’s, hard earned money. It’s just not in his personality and it would take a lot more for him to take a sum that big. Kyungsoo is pretty practical and for him to take something from someone like a CEO, probably wouldn’t matter, but it does to him.

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t want to take things from people, even if they’re being generous, he wants to work hard, and put in hard work to receive an equally good outcome. Taking that same work from other people just isn’t part of who he is.

 

He does hear some yelling and calling behind him but as soon as he steps outside the building, Kyungsoo bolts.

  


He forgot to give him his name.

 

 

 


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOW this took slightly longer than i anticipated sorry but it's a big one. I actually wrote out waaaay more but this already went way too many places already and I think I want to save all the extra bits i wrote out for the next update.

 

 

 

 

“And you forgot your name both times? You never forget to introduce yourself… That’s the first thing you do when you meet anyone. That’s not like you, Hyung.”

  
  


“Yeah, I know. I panicked.” Kyungsoo groans, resting himself on the table across from Jongin, who's here to get his daily fix of ramen after a long day in the office.

 

“G-Light media,” Jongin whispers to himself, “Ya know, I hear that’s a really good place to work right now, the CEO is about our age too. Him and the vice, I think.”

 

“Yeah, so I’ve found.” 

 

“What? It’s really cool he tried to help you,” Jongin whines through a mouth of food, “What did I say when I left yesterday? Miracle, right? And you being the selfless, good for nothing bastard you are, you soiled it.”

 

Kyungsoo sends a glare across the table, causing Jongin to make a sound. The male looks like he’s about to say something else but the front door of the restaurant opens, and two figures walk inside. One of them being very familiar. 

  
  


“This is it? He didn’t lie did he?”

 

Kyungsoo almost trips out of his seat as he goes to greet the pair. One of them is that cute secretary from yesterday, Sehun, if he can remember from what his name plate said yesterday.

 

The young man’s face lights up as he nods when Kyungsoo asks if he can seat them. Jongin looks totally dead in the face, he’s hardly ever seen other people in here, this is totally new to him.

 

It’s only two guys, not a lot, but so much better than one (no offense to Jongin).

 

He gets their drinks, their orders, and soon enough is preparing everything in the kitchen. He usually doesn’t get a lot of people in one day. It scatters out over the month. 

 

This is what he lives for. That little spark of passion that lights up when people come in for  _ his  _ food. 

 

Baekhyun probably told them, based off of their conversation when they walked in. Strange considering the events that unfolded yesterday right in front of all of Baekhyun’s other employees in his  _ own _ building, of his  _ own _ company.

 

Baekhyun should hate him, maybe. He should at least be a little mad, not telling his employees about the weird guy who let him sleep on his couch. Either way, Kyungsoo is thankful. These people traveled a good deal across town to come to his little place just because their weird boss might have said something good about it.

 

He’s gonna take this as a sign, especially considering how yesterday’s meeting with his landlord went, Kyungsoo needs this. 

 

“So,” Kyungsoo says, placing two refreshments on the table, “What made you two come all this way? Your company is based in the city.”

 

The two thank him and then look at each other for a split second, almost trying to play a game of who was going to speak first and Sehun decides to jump on it. 

 

“CEO Byun asked me what you were doing there after you… Ran out… So I told him and asked how you two knew each other and…” His eyes fall around the small space and he shrugs, “He started rambling about what happened.”

 

The young man’s eyes fall across the room nervously, unsure about if he should even be telling Kyungsoo any of what is coming out of his mouth right now. 

 

“He mentioned you had good food though so… I got the address off him.”

 

Kyungsoo’s eyes almost roll out of his head at that. 

 

The CEO of G-Light Media has the address to his restaurant. 

 

He could be just handing it out to people left and right and there’s no telling what he could be saying to them. Kyungsoo should’ve been a little nicer when Baekhyun showed up out of the dark, he should’ve given the bastard his name at least. The poor guy had to make the check out to the restaurant because Kyungsoo, the one who was taught to talk formally and respectfully to anyone, older or younger, forgot one simple, common manner. 

 

“It means a lot you even took this into account, really.” Kyungsoo smiles, hoping that neither of the two males sitting in front of him can see the red tinting his ears. 

 

Kyungsoo hurries back to the kitchen to check the status of the broth boiling before he goes to work adding spices and slicing up meat and chopping vegetables. 

 

He knows this isn’t going to save him, but Kyungsoo wants to try and hold out for as long as he can. Six months was just a rough estimate but his mind knows that there’s no way he’ll barely last longer than that. Kyungsoo wants to make the best out of what’s left of this place and if it takes some gushy kids from the middle of the city or from down the road, he’ll make the best out of what he can. 

 

It won’t be a lot. But it’s what his dad would have wanted. Maybe. Hopefully. 

  
  


Kyungsoo pretty much blacks out the entire time he’s in the kitchen. Unless he’s cooking for himself, he never gets to fully immerse himself in the same experiences he had when he was a kid. Watching his parents doing the same work he is, multiplied by two, is something he was always dreamed of doing.

 

Then he grew up. 

  
  


Getting to jump back to his childhood and live in the shoes of his parents for just a few minutes changes his mood completely. He’s thankful for the time being. Despite his constant pessimism about the future of this place, he’s thankful to anyone and everyone that’s even given this place a second glance since he took over. 

 

He has no idea what he’s going to do after this six months or so is up. He needs to get some ideas, find some places, talk to some people, whatever he can do to have a somewhat solid backup plan before his life officially falls to shambles. 

 

He heaves a sigh as he carefully pours each of the men’s orders into their bowls, loading them up onto a tray and carrying them out to the two. 

 

They thank him, stare at the meal in front of them in amazement, and go to town. 

 

It takes a lot for Kyungsoo to hold down the proud smile that tugs at his lips, but he lets it go when he turns around to go cleanup and get a bill started. 

 

Kyungsoo manages to get halfway through before he goes back out to check on Jongin and the two younger men and finds himself making a plethora of side dishes about two minutes later. 

 

If Kyungsoo could afford a part-timer, it’d be really useful right now. His hands keep getting cramped from chopping so much that he has to stop for a few seconds, stretch it out, and keep going. It’s getting warm back here, he’s starting to break a sweat, which is really gross, he hates sweating. 

 

“Okay,” He breathes, loading the dishes back up onto the tray, and tries to keep himself from stumbling as he hurries to get everything outside. 

 

Strangely, Jongin has already left. On the table is the ticket for his food, along with a bill to cover set aside some for Kyungsoo. He’s always told Jongin to never leave tips so the guy just paid with his card instead of cash except for when Kyungsoo wasn’t looking. 

 

He takes the copy of his receipt, along with the bill so he can count it all away and notices a little note on the back of the receipt:

 

_ Cooking-hyung is cute when he’s happy!!!  _

_Let’s drink together soon~_ ❤

 

 

_ And ask the very tall giggly man what is name is please (he has the glasses) _

 

_ Night Night ! _

 

He should really stop considering Jongin a customer at this point and just say that he’s his friend. He’s been in here nearly everyday since he moved here and Kyungsoo thinks that the male knows more about him than he does about himself. 

 

Kyungsoo has to reread the side note Jongin left about a tall giggly man in glasses. His brows press together as he looks over at the two who are chatting happily among themselves and spots the man in glasses. It’s Sehun’s friend. He’ll introduce himself before they leave and should have no trouble remembering. As far as Kyungsoo can recall, Jongin has never talked about so much as a crush since he started warming up to Kyungsoo. Him asking about anyone is a surprise to him.

 

Kyungsoo sets aside everything at the register, migrates back to the kitchen and finishes cleaning up, then makes his way back out to check on the pair again. 

 

He hates asking the dreaded, ‘was everything okay?’, but does so anyways and watches the smile up at him nodding, “Now I know why CEO Byun talked so excitedly about you. I haven’t had genuine ramen in a while.” Sehun smiles, his tall friend agrees, and in the next beat, Kyungsoo is taking their cards through the readers and seeing them out. 

 

‘Talked so excitedly about you’

 

‘You’ referring to Kyungsoo? Or ‘You’ referring to the restaurant in general? Kyungsoo doesn’t doesn’t think too hard about it, instead just thanks the two for their visit as they leave.

 

Tall friend’s name is Park Chanyeol. Mental note for Jongin.

 

 

 

\-- -- --  
  
  


 

 

Kyungsoo really hates that he kept the light on an hour longer while cleaning up the shop last night just in case any friendly strangers came waltzing by. It was dead after Sehun and his tall friend left. 

 

Today is one out of the two days of the week that he spends doing one of two things;

 

Seeing his mom, or doing mass amounts of paperwork. 

 

There was a bit of hesitation is doing both. He likes seeing his mom, but considering the state that things are in right now, he isn’t sure how her reaction will be. Paperwork for obvious reasons. He also needs to go to the market sometime to get more ingredients for the kitchen. 

 

Cross out the paperwork, he thinks. Kyungsoo literally does that everyday and has more than enough time to go through it anyways. After all, it’s not like he’s expecting a crowd. 

 

He opts for seeing his mom. It’s only a train stop away and it’s been a couple of weeks since he’s seen her anyways. He can leave all the bad stuff out. She knows, for the most part, that the place is falling apart, has been, even before Kyungsoo took over. He tries to leave all that out anyways, it always raises more questions, leaves Kyungsoo clinging desperately onto excuses, it always runs in the same cycle and it’s best to try and avoid the topic the best he can. 

 

It’s not like she wouldn’t understand. After all, if it wasn’t for Kyungsoo being so stubborn and sentimental, she would have closed the place down all those years ago. If it wasn’t for him getting in the way, Kyungsoo’s life could have gone in a much different direction, and chances are, they would have been a helluva lot better than where he’s at now. 

 

“You’re thinking about it again,” She said, breaking him out of his thoughts as he was mindlessly chopping away in the kitchen. 

He shook his head, stayed very far away from the topic of a certain CEO, as well as his death sentence in six months and said it was nothing, and not to worry about it. That he was taking care of it and would have it all sorted out soon. Basically indirectly stating the fact that he is totally going out of business but tried to make it sound like he was getting somewhere in the opposite direction. 

 

Kyungsoo dropped the topic as quickly as it was sparked and hurried to ask her about any markets nearby to stock up on ingredients for the kitchen. He can’t make it out to seem like it’s a big deal, so he’s losing business, it happens more often than not. Kyungsoo just got unlucky. 

 

His mother sent him home with a list of markets in the area he could visit, not that he really needed them, along with some food to take home for himself. 

 

He planned on going to the market that was near the restaurant, but asking was just a way to keep more tricky topics off the mind. Besides, he didn’t want to carry around a container of food all night or have to wait until it out for the next few days. Night markets are an option too, but Kyungsoo can’t seem to find any time to waste considering he’s too swarmed with work. He used to go all the time, it’d be nice to go back someday.

 

It’s a quick in and out of the house, dropping stuff off, getting other stuff to take with him, and he’s back out of the house with a backpack over his shoulders and two woven, wicker baskets in hand.

 

There’s some chatter around him as he locks the door. Too close for comfort but he ignores it until he hears a quiet, “That’s the owner.” from behind him.

 

“He’s so young though, serious?”

 

“Mhm, took over for his parents a while ago but has some… other plans.” He knows that voice. That’s his landlord. 

 

He turns around, throws a quick smile and wave to the man, and his on his way. 

 

This is gonna keep getting worse and Kyungsoo knows it for a fact. He got out as fast as he could before the guy could try and say anything else to him, because he saw that look on his face, he was about to stop Kyungsoo and try to sell him on these people, just like he has time and time again for the past few months. 

 

He really wonders how much his landlord has told people about him. It’s not like Kyungsoo has had things too hard, it’s not he’s a bad owner either. He does just fine, and he’s gotten along with everyone that comes in and tries to buy this place out.

 

His landlord is a nice guy. Despite them not totally seeing eye to eye, he's been more lenient with Kyungsoo than the other old guys have, and he’s at least grateful for that.

 

A drink would Jongin sounds way too tempting of an offer right about now as Kyungsoo ducks his head to try and stay out of sight of the potential new buyers of the place.

 

He hasn’t even put it on the market yet… He really can’t catch a break.

 

It was a quiet, short bus ride to the regular market he visits. Days off usually grant him the freedom to visit other places and window shop and remind himself that he can’t afford literally anything he picks up. He’s here for one purpose, and that’s food.

 

He did indulge in some cheap street food as he passed by the crowded stalls and eyed all of the goods that were being sold. He’s thought about trying this before, but that pessimistic mind of his tells him it would be reliving his own day to day. No one would pass him a second glance. 

 

He ended up staying way longer than he intended. It was dark by the time he was leaving with two full baskets of various meats and vegetables and flour. All the good stuff.

 

Kyungsoo was just down the road, trying to adjust the baskets that started making his arms sore when a shadowed figure appeared that made him stop and stare for a few seconds. 

 

It’s hazy, the lights of the stores around make it hard to catch a figure considering they’re standing under the awning of Kyungsoo’s restaurant.

 

His jaw clenched and his grip tightens on the baskets as he storms up he road, ready to give what look like a potential burglar an entire mouthful of frozen meat straight to the face.

 

“Hey!” He calls, watching the figure turn around, “Who the fuck do you think you-“

 

The figure steps out from under the awning towards Kyungsoo, and immediately causes Kyungsoo to stop cold.

 

“Ah, I’ve been standing here for a while, ya know. I didn’t realize you were actually gone… Sorry.”

 

Stupid CEO. Byun Baekhyun.

 

“What the hell are you doing here? I’m closed today anyways.” He snaps, ignoring the male and walking up to the restaurant.

 

He drops the baskets, fishes the keys out from his backpack and unlocks the door.

 

“Yeah, I saw. I just…” The man goes quiet and Kyungsoo inwardly laughs to himself. He came here full well knowing that the stores hours are posted on the front door but has the audacity to try and excuse himself.

 

“Kyungsoo,” The make quickly stops and turns around, repeating his name again as Baekhyun stares puzzled at Kyungsoo under the faint light.

 

“My name,” He sighs, “Is Do Kyungsoo.”

 

Baekhyun smiles, “There’s part of what I came here for.”

 

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and pushes the door of the shop open. Immediately, the security alarm blares through the small place and Kyungsoo is suddenly multitasking to try and get the baskets and make it to the alarm before it notifies the police.

 

Baekhyun is quick to catch on and takes up the baskets himself, brushing against Kyungsoo’s hand as he tries the take the one he was struggling with, retracting and finding a grip again. 

 

Kyungsoo stares in a mix of shock and confusion and Baekhyun tells him to go ahead. He does so, hurrying to turn off the alarm and returning to see Baekhyun obviously struggling with the baskets, groaning as he drags the one full of meat across the floor, the other with produce dangling dangerously on the crook of his elbow.

 

“Jesus, did you carry these all the way here?” He groans, watching Kyungsoo try to hold in a laugh.

 

“Yeah. I do this like… Every other week.” Kyungsoo says flatly, finally deciding to end the CEO’s suffering and going to help him.

 

“Your arms must be no joke then… Wow.” He breathes, watching as Kyungsoo takes up both the baskets and walk towards the kitchen.

 

“They’re usually lighter than this. But I had a few more people come in these last couple weeks than I expected.” He sets the baskets on the counter and looks back towards Baekhyun who is standing on the other side of the door to the kitchen, staring in through the window almost pitifully.

 

Kyungsoo stares at him again, motioning to him that yes, you can come inside the kitchen. No one else is here, it’s not like it’s off limits, especially considering Baekhyun’s unexpected drop in at this hour. 

 

Baekhyun looks around as he walks in, quietly standing by the door and watching Kyungsoo moving to the sink to wash everything off and put them away.

 

“So,” Kyungsoo says, pulling some carrots from the basket and moving to the sink, “You said my name was part of the reason you’re here. Mind telling me the other?”

 

Baekhyun looks up in realization and he whispers a quick, “Oh, yeah!” as he leans back against the wall, shoving his hands into his pockets casually. 

“I just wanted to know… Since you left so suddenly the other day… Why you gave that check back to me. I wrote it out to you for a reason, ya know.”

 

Kyungsoo suppresses an eye roll as he pauses washing the carrots for a moment, then shakes his head and continues. 

 

“I don’t need it, or want it. I can make my own money.” Kyungsoo clips, putting the bunch of carrots to the side to dry, and moves on to cucumbers.

 

Baekhyun huffs. Kyungsoo isn’t going to give the CEO pride just because Kyungsoo helped him one time. He isn’t going to take his money and risk potentially receiving more after… That’s like… Having a sugar daddy. Kyungsoo desperately hopes Baekhyun isn’t into that. Kyungsoo does not want a sugar daddy keeping his restaurant alive. He’s rather just shut down than deal with any of that. He couldn’t imagine explaining to someone that his rent is being paid by a CEO of a media company in the city. Oh, the thought almost makes him shiver. 

 

The point is, Kyungsoo makes a living on his own and has done so for years now. He doesn’t need anyone to help him. He isn’t he type to take from people or cause burdens. He’ll live with what he can and do his job alone until it’s suitable for other help. But now is not that time. 

 

“Besides,” Kyungsoo starts, not looking at Baekhyun, “I’m shutting this place down anyways. There’s no use trying to keep it open.”

 

Baekhyun makes a noise across the room, a kind of choked gasp that has Kyungsoo glaring at him.

 

“You  _ what  _ ? Come on, Mister! You don’t mean that.” The man objects, jutting his lips as he stares at Kyungsoo.

 

“First, my name is Kyungsoo. And second, yes, I can. It’s  _ my _ restaurant.” Kyungsoo retorts, stepping to the side to dry the cucumbers. 

 

Baekhyun is quiet for a moment, Kyungsoo glances up to him for a split second and the male looks deep in thought. Hands shoved into his pockets, eyebrows knitted together as he stares at the floor. 

 

“Why?” The CEO asks suddenly, looking up at Kyungsoo. “I mean, I know running a business is rough, take it from me. But… I can help, I-“

 

“I’m already too far in debt. It’s best to let go now while I still can.” Kyungsoo starts, moving on to wash some lettuce.

 

He probably shouldn’t have said he was shutting down so suddenly. Bad move, especially because he’s talking to the guy who literally wrote him a hot check to “fix his chairs”. Not his entire restaurant situation. Kyungsoo probably just opened a whole new can of worms now because he was doing what he thought was right. 

 

“No need to offer any help.” He continues quickly, stopping the other male from getting any further ideas.   “It’s… Not worth it.”

 

Baekhyun goes quiet again, taking his lip between his teeth as he thinks.

He opens his mouth, voice a little hesitant as he speaks. “So you’re just gonna waste all your talent? What are you gonna do?”

 

“Huh?” Kyungsoo looks back over to Baekhyun again, still looking as pitiful as ever. He shrugs, “I’ll find something…”

 

Baekhyun hums, “You sound unsure, Kyungja.” The CEO smirks. 

 

“ _ Kyungsoo _ .” He corrects sharply. Baekhyun chuckles, tilting his head to the side almost cutely.

 

“Listen,” The other starts, “Kim Minseok, my financial director- total genius. You saw him yesterday. He’s my saving grace at the company, if I hooked you guys up-“

 

“No, no, and no.” Kyungsoo interjects, dropping his task at hand and turning to face Baekhyun fully, 

“Do you not understand? I’m twenty-eight and already drowning in financial debt. You have absolutely no idea how small businesses work, do you? Making a living is fucking impossible once big corporate businesses start sniffing out places like this, and I’m right at the top.”

 

“Maybe not small businesses exactly…” be trails, “But business is business, you just-“

 

“No,” Kyungsoo snaps again, “Don’t say I haven’t done enough to make myself be seen. I’ve stood out in the fucking snow handing out flyers. I’ve wasted night putting ads up in the train stations, in papers, on light posts.  _ Don’t _ tell me I haven’t wasted myself away enough to save this place when I have.”

 

Kyungsoo’s voice was surprisingly even when he let it all spill, but his chest still heaves and his blood still boils. Stupid big business owners like him don’t get it. He can’t get it through Baekhyun’s thick fucking corporate skull that his business is going to be dust in less than six months time.

 

Baekhyun stands there staring back at Kyungsoo in shock, his eyes wide like he’s seen a ghost, his lips parted, breath held.

 

He blinks a few times, trying to overcome the momentary stun, then smiles smugly. If Kyungsoo could smack that grin off his face with the head of lettuce in his hand he would’ve done it by know. What a bastard.

 

“Meet me at my company tomorrow morning at eight-thirty. I’m gonna help you out, Mister Kyungja.” 

 

Baekhyun waves, and slips out of the kitchen, this time leaving Kyungsoo to stand dumbly shock. He’s still standing like that, eyes darting between Baekhyun’s previous place on the wall, to the door, back and forth, when Baekhyun pops his head through the door one last time.

 

“Oh, and bring some food. Minseok and Jongdae didn’t believe what I told them about you. They aren’t picky, so be creative.” Baekhyun winks, and slips out the door again.

 

Kyungsoo tried to gain some sense, and calls out to Baekhyun but the only answer he received is the bell of the restaurant chiming and an engine revving a minute later. 

 

So now he has to spend the rest of his night cooking. Fan-fucking-tastic.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Laughs in Hidden*
> 
> follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/shuaversum) for stupid updates from me see u again when //things// happen >:))
> 
> Next update will be up a lot sooner since I accidentally already started writing it huhuhuh


	3. 3

 

 

 

Kyungsoo’s night ended up something like this:

 

Washing the rest of his vegetables, chopped them up while he put together chicken stock in two large pots, made a huge mess of flour while putting together his noodles, and threw them all together. 

 

He got four hours of sleep, a cold shower, two pots of simple ramen, prepped and ready to take to the middle of the city all on behalf of one stupid CEO that he  _ actually _ listened to. 

 

Kyungsoo ended up making enough for seconds, or to share, just in case. He let the broth and spices and meat sit most of the night to really settle and added the veggies and noodles last minute to keep from getting soggy. 

 

It smelled amazing when he came back to it the following morning, his hopes are high for people to try it, but it plummets when he remembers that his purpose to do this is, in the end, pointless. 

 

Kyungsoo still got his documents together, all the financial papers and property stuff, the stuff he’s been slaving over for the past two years. All his shame, embarrassment, and stress, all of it ready to lay out on a table for him to stare at because it doesn’t matter anymore.

 

Stupid CEO, making him do stupid things he doesn’t want to do, all for what? Some free ramen and an ego boost? A total joke. 

 

This was stupid. Kyungsoo was stupid for even doing this. It’s seven in the morning and he’s carrying ramen onto a train with a backpack full of reasons to disappear. 

 

People throw some sideways glances at him, he would too if he saw himself. A sad looking stranger carrying two pots of ramen into the city. Out of place, always staring, always doing the most to stay out of the way. 

 

The train ride is mostly silent. People are all typing away on their smartphones with earbuds in, Kyungsoo envies it for a minute. He really would like one of those, maybe once he gets all this settled he’ll save for one. 

 

He gets the same looks from strangers on the way to the building, but as soon as he walks through the large glass doors he’s greeted by a cheery receptionist that greets him as soon as Kyungsoo walks up to the desk. 

 

He doesn’t even have to say anything other than hello before Sehun smiles and picks up a phone, “I can lead you upstairs. Either CEO Byun of Minseok will come collect you.”

 

Kyungsoo nods, pauses, then asks, “Who… Who is Minseok?”

 

“Oh!” Sehun gasps, “He’s the financial officer, the CFO of G-Light. He’s about your height, uhm… Very intense gaze, you can’t miss him.” Sehun says, standing up and handing a small badge over to Kyungsoo, “Wear this so people know you aren’t some rando wandering around. I’ll take you upstairs.” 

 

Kyungsoo tries to keep up with the young mans long strides, but carrying two pots of ramen and a backpack full of guilt doesn’t exactly make him very elegant. Sehun seems to get the idea and offers to help out, but Kyungsoo smiles and shakes his head, he’s fine on his own. 

 

Sehun scans his ID card before one of the two elevators slides open, letting Kyungsoo step on first and following behind, pressing the button to what he said was the main floor of the building. 

 

“I want to thank you again for coming in the other day.” Kyungsoo says suddenly, “You and your friend were an unexpected surprise.” 

 

“Us? Really? Thank  _ you _ ,” The taller smiles shyly, “It was all really good. I don’t eat authentic ramen as much anymore, I’m too busy, so I just eat it out of a package.” He giggles, “It was really good though… We’ll come back soon.”

 

“I’ll be there.” Kyungsoo smiles, watching Sehun step off the elevator onto a bustling floor, with Kyungsoo close behind. There’s lounging and entertainment and computers everywhere. Kyungsoo doesn’t know where to look first, but a certain familiar sound makes him turn his head and glare. 

 

“Morning, Mister.” The CEO smiles, walking up proudly to the two and thanks Sehun, who smiles and takes his leave. 

 

“Mmm,” Baekhyun hums, “Do you… Need any help with those they look kinda…” Baekhyun holds an uneasy gaze on Kyungsoo, who is clinging onto the two pots for dear life, and shakes his head furiously, “No, it’s okay. Let’s just… Get this over with, please.”

 

Baekhyun stares unsure at Kyungsoo for a moment longer, huffing a quiet “Fine” and showing Kyungsoo the way through his maze of a building, getting all kinds of looks from employees. 

 

“G-Light,” Kyungsoo mumbles, “What’s that stand for?”

 

“Hm?” Baekhyun turns his head and slows his pace to match Kyungsoo, walking slowly alongside him, “G-Light,” Baekhyun echoes, “Generation Light. Kinda fitting for our demographic. We’re the light of this generation, and the ones that will follow. Cute right?” 

 

Kyungsoo hums, looking around at the place Baekhyun has established. So many people greet him with big smiles on their faces and he reciprocates the gesture even more. It’s everything Kyungsoo wishes his life could have turned out to be and more. Good energy, good people, it’s what makes a business. It almost makes Kyungsoo feel a little… Jealous, in some weird, screwed up sort of way. The kind of happiness Baekhyun radiates, as well as his employees is something Kyungsoo can only dream of having. 

 

The name has more meaning than Kyungsoo expected from Baekhyun. He seems very proud of it, of all of this.

“Here, my office is this way.” Baekhyun says, leading Kyungsoo past some conference rooms, some of them empty, some full, and then up a short flight of stairs to a hall that looks over the entire floor with a few door dotted along. 

 

Kyungsoo already takes the wild guess that the office at the very end of the hall, with glass along both sides of the room is probably Baekhyun’s. The office sits at kind of an angle, making the hall appear wider than the rest, a long glass window takes up the wall over the main floor, running outward at an angle above the company floor.

 

“Wait, why are we going to your office?” Kyungsoo asks, watching Baekhyun smirk as he whips out a key card and hold it in front of a small scanner. There’s a little beep, and two glass doors slide apart, revealing a large, lavish office. 

 

“You can set those on my desk, I’ll get Minseok in here.” Baekhyun says, completely ignoring Kyungsoo’s question and walking over to his desk and picking up a phone, pressing a few keys and mumbling a few words before he hangs it up. 

 

Kyungsoo didn’t even take into account that Baekhyun was dressed… Formally. He was in formal work clothes, blazer, tie and all, and he looked… Nice, dare Kyungsoo even say.

 

“You didn’t answer m-” Kyungsoo was just getting the question out when a pitched beep rings out and the sound of doors sliding open behind them has his question cut off. In walks a man who, just as Sehun described, was not much taller than himself, with a very intense gaze, but also a warm smile. 

 

He greets Kyungsoo, introduces himself and Kyungsoo does the same. He asks if Kyungsoo has everything and he nods, nervously adjusting his bag on his shoulders. 

 

“Baekhyun said you’re quite the master in the kitchen, thank you for bringing all this.”  He smiles, walking towards the two pots on Baekhyun’s desk.

 

“I told you guys he was good,” Baekhyun huffs, looking up from his computer towards the older man who laughs, taking the lid from one of the pots, along with a bowl and some cutlery that Kyungsoo apparently had missed upon entering. The fucker had this all planned didn’t he?

 

“You said he  _ looked  _ good, you hardly said a word about the cooking, Baek.”

 

Baekhyun sputters a little out of embarrassment, Kyungsoo looks around the office pretending he didn’t just hear that while he feels his face and neck heat up, trying not to remember those things Sehun said to him when he came to visit. 

Minseok laughs again, “I’m gonna take your word for it though, you are paying afterall.”

 

Baekhyun lets Minseok take over his desk, taking a laptop to sit on a couch by the door and letting the two get down to business. All more a reason that Kyungsoo doesn’t understand why Baekhyun insisted they used his office. If he was just going to saunter off to another part of the room, what’s the point?

 

It was a lot of sorting through stuff, a lot of Kyungsoo having to answer personal questions about his business that he wouldn’t have really told anyone else, like, ever. Minseok was really understanding though, he nodded and listened to Kyungsoo talk about everything, he asked him about his debt, and how he’s going to about selling the place, he was thorough all the way through. 

 

“So, if you want my honest advice here,” Minseok sits up, collecting the papers and straightening them out, “Shut it down. You’ve already taken out a pretty hefty loan as it is, you missing payments on it is just going to pull you further into the hole and get you involved with the law. At that point you’re… Yeah.”

 

“I know that this isn’t what you wanted to hear” Minseok continues, “But the sooner you do this, the less trouble you’ll get yourself into later on. If you try and keep this place open in your state, you’ll just find yourself falling further and further into this financial pit. Unless you were to suddenly become a hit overnight and had people lining up outside your door, I’d say you were out of luck.”

 

Kyungsoo nods once, staring down at the desk. Pointless, he knew this was all pointless. He came here to get an answer he could have gotten from someone walking down the fucking street. Kyungsoo has spent his entire morning making a fucking joke of himself and now he has to go do it again by turning that stupid little sign in the window of his shop over to say “Open”. 

 

“I’m sorry, Kyungsoo. Someone like you doesn’t deserve this, it’s just-”

 

“Business, yeah. ‘S what my landlord says.” Kyungsoo half-smiles, standing up and collecting his stuff, thanking Minseok one last time before he dips his head and turns around to walk out of the CEO’s office. He has to open in half an hour and he’s barely going to make it home in time. 

 

There’s a familiar voice that calls after him, Kyungsoo walks faster, he hears footsteps running up behind him, he clenches his fist, and turns around to catch Baekhyun with his arm outstretched in attempt to take Kyungsoo’s. Baekhyun blinks, swallows anxiously and lowers his hand slowly. 

 

“I haven’t paid you yet.”

 

“No.” Kyungsoo growls, trying to turn around but gets a quick pull on the loop hook of his backpack, yanking Kyungsoo backwards to a stop.

 

“You made this right? You spent time making this, I’m not just gonna let you leave, especially considering what I just heard.” Baekhyun snaps, pulling out his wallet and opening it up. 

 

“Ohh,” Kyungsoo breathes, “So that’s why you suggested your office… So you could listen to me woe all my problems and make a goddamn fool of myself in front of your CFO and try to feel sorry for me, right?” Kyungsoo shot, pushing Baekhyun’s wallet back into his chest, “I told you last night, there’s  _ no point _ . Stop trying to help me. You’re better off just staying away altogether, got it?”

 

Baekhyun stares at him for a minute, unblinking. He’s got that same pitiful, kicked puppy face as he did last night and it makes Kyungsoo absolutely fume. Why does he look so clueless? It’s like everything Kyungsoo says goes right over his head. 

 

Baekhyun’s jaw clenches and he takes a grip on Kyungsoo’s wrist again, pulling him in the other direction back down the hall to his office. 

 

Minseok is in the middle of getting another serving of ramen when Baekhyun pulls Kyungsoo inside. He stares between the two a little confused, and hurries to take his leave. 

 

When the glass doors slide shut, Baekhyun unleashes. 

 

“Why can’t you just accept that I want to help you? Why are so against that?”

 

Kyungsoo sighs, now he has to go over this again, for the third time with Baekhyun. 

 

“I barely know you!” Kyungsoo starts, his chest is heavy as he tries to keep his voice low. Baekhyun is so frustratingly clueless. So ignorant and Kyungsoo genuinely can’t tell if it’s a joke or not. 

“Why do I have to keep explaining to you that you’re a stranger that I met barely a week ago? You heard me, you heard Minseok, there’s no point. I appreciate the gesture, but it isn’t worth it. You’d just be wasting your hard earned money for a lost cause.” 

 

Baekhyun is quiet for a minute, sulking back to lean against his desk, “Would it make you feel better if you did know me?” He asks quietly, voice almost sounding testing but borderline sincere too as he looks up to Kyungsoo with gentle eyes. His demeanor changed in seconds. God, this guy is frustrating. 

 

“No.” Kyungsoo says, “Even if I had known you my entire life, it wouldn’t make a difference. I don’t want to waste your money. Let me just-”

 

“But what about your debt?” Baekhyun cuts in, “I mean, that’s gonna follow you whether you shut down or not, you know. At least let me-”

 

“I told you last night, I’ll find somewhere else to go and pay it off then. None of this should be your concern anyways.” Kyungsoo mumbles, letting his thoughts possess his tongue as he spits out another series of questions. “Besides, what do you want? Why do you keep showing up and trying to offer your help? I helped you  _ one  _ time and it wasn’t that much.”

  
  


Baekhyun crosses his arms over his chest and takes a breath, his lips jut out a little and Kyungsoo holds back an eyeroll. He stares at Kyungsoo almost contemplating what he wants to say first, like there’s a million and one things that he just doesn’t have the time to say in such a snap. Kyungsoo feels like reaching his fingers up into the short strands of his hair and pulling as hard as he can. 

 

“ Cause,” He shrugs, “Maybe I wanna buy out your place, Mister.”

 

Kyungsoo’s fingers curl into his fists, it’s taking everything in him not to shake Baekhyun by the shoulders and shake some common fucking sense into him. 

 

“Jesus Christ,” Kyungsoo’s eyes close tight, trying to keep the anger and frustration on the low, he doesn’t have the time to respond to this, he isn’t going to stand here and argue with this ingrown frustration of a human. 

 

“No, please stop asking. I don’t know if you’re trying to embarass me or what, but for the love of God just-” Kyungsoo’s hand runs through his hair, pulling at the strands on the back of his head, “Just leave me and my restaurant alone. Please” He pleads, desperation a little more evident in his voice than he would have liked, but he’s too angry to really care now. Too worked up to give a fuck as he turns around and storms out of the CEO’s office before either of them can say anything else. 

  
  


\--

 

It’s another slow day. Another day that Kyungsoo tries to mind control the passerby’s to walk inside. He mindlessly stares outside the window, watching one figure pass, another following, more coming and going in the same and different directions. 

 

It’s all the same. They’re not though. They all have lives filled with good people and a new day to wake up to and face. Kyungsoo wakes up and faces the same hell everyday that he doesn’t know if he’s been stuck in time or not. He wakes up with the same routine, the same fears, the same burdens and worries and the same heavy, weighted feeling in his chest that pulls him down the stairs and twists his heart the same way he does with the locks. 

 

He should have let go. He should have known that the times were changing and this place would too, he would, and everyone that has come and gone has and will continue to. Kyungsoo just had too much love for this place, for his parents, for the craft. The thought of letting go of all this after his father died made his heart clench in the most painful way that he couldn’t bare to do it. 

 

It’s not like Kyungsoo knew anything else. Well, he did, but at the same time he didn’t want to have anything to do with something that wasn’t cooking, wasn’t being here. He just didn’t have any interest in it, he wasn’t drawn to it in the same way he was to the kitchen. 

 

Now it all just feels like a chore. It was fun for a minute, when people still came in, when people still enjoyed what he did, now these big business have bought out the other places that surround him, and he’s been left to fight back, albeit not very well. He’s run himself straight into the dirt and nothing feels really real anymore. It’s day after day of running towards the finish line, a ribbon in sight, thinking he’s getting another mile closer, but being a million miles back. He’s still running these laps, and he’s tired. 

 

Bringing this CEO into the mix doesn’t help. Kyungsoo doesn’t want this anymore. No one comes in except for Jongin. No one looks inside the windows even though the shades are pulled up, he’s invisible among the crowds. 

 

Speaking of, there he is. The reason for Kyungsoo’s suffering walking up to the door.

 

Fucking Kim Junmyeon. The guy who has been buying these places out for the past few years and has been trying to get Kyungsoo’s place under his belt too. He owns a pretty good handful of businesses around the area, and Kyungsoo and him have been butting heads for years. 

 

The fucker is strkingly good looking and well spoken, there’s a reason he’s so good at buying these places out. He’s charming enough that he manages to pull these places into his grip and doesn’t let go and Kyungsoo is on the top of his list. 

 

The door chimes, Junmyeon smiles upon seeing Kyungsoo, “Do Kyungsoo.” 

 

Kyungsoo hums, leaning back in the chair he’s sitting in and watching Junmyeon dip his head as he pulls a chair out across from him. Sure, make yourself at home while you try to talk me into selling my place again, you handsome fucker. 

 

“It’s quiet as ever in here.”

 

_ Thanks to you _ . He wants to say. He stays quiet instead, glares at the man sitting across from him. 

 

“Six months, and your wish comes true.” Kyungsoo says, attention turning back to the window, to anything that isn’t Junmyeon sitting across from him. 

 

Junmyeon hums, “I was going to ask you about that. I was speaking to your landlord the other day and he told me. I was surprised, honestly.”

 

“I bet.” He blinks

 

“What made you finally break?” Junmyeon asks. 

 

“Debt. You. Lots of things.”

 

Junmyeon is silent for a minute. Kyungsoo doesn’t pay him any attention, he just ignores him for as long as he can. Checks the time on his watch, Jongin will be here soon. That’s good. 

 

“I uhm-” Junmyeon shifts and is looking for words, trying to ease this out, doing a very awful job at it, poor guy. 

 

“So… Six months?”

 

“Maybe less if you’re a little more desperate.”

 

“Kyungsoo, don’t be like that.” Junmyeon’s voice is gentle, but his motives aren’t. 

 

Kyungsoo glares at him from the side again, swallowing his anger. He has every reason to be like this. Junmyeon has no right to come in here and brag about his three year accomplishment of finally ruining Kyungsoo’s life and then telling him how he should feel. Not while this building is still under Kyungsoo’s name. 

 

“Don’t be like what?”

 

He hears the man sigh and stand up, “You knew this was coming, Kyungsoo. Admit it, you knew it way before I did but you’re just too stubborn to let go.”

 

“Yeah, I did. You think I’m gonna let all my parents hard work go to waste? You think I’m just gonna leave it all behind for you to make profit on?” Kyungsoo swallows, he’d fought with way too many people today, he’s too tired for this, another word from Junmyeon and he’s going to turn to burst into flames. Sitting here listening to Junmyeon try and play the victim makes Kyungsoo’s blood absolutely boil and he’s about to stand up and shove the guy out of the store when the door chimes. Immediate relief washed over him when he sees Jongin looking abased and a little guilty to what he just walked into.

 

Kyungsoo and the older man hold a hard stare on each other for a few more seconds before he turns around and walks past Jongin without another word. 

 

Junmyeon coming in really just topped off his entirely shitty week. He didn’t need anymore obnoxious people coming in to spew mindless bullshit in his restaurant, but look what he got. Two of the most loud mouthed business owners he could have gone his entire life without meeting. Just his luck, among all things. 

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything, just lets Jongin take his place and silently stalks to the kitchen. It was a quick fix, he really just threw together the same thing he made last night for Baekhyun, too exhausted to channel any sort of culinary creativity and just got down to the basics.  By the time he got out to the floor Jongin was sitting at his usual table quietly playing a game on his phone, jacket draped over the back of his chair.

 

“Hey, who was that guy?” He asks, not bothering to look up at Kyungsoo placing a piping hot bowl down in front of him.

 

“No one that’s worth your concern.”  Kyungsoo mutters, pulling the chair across the table out and falling into it. 

 

“What? That guy smelled way too expensive though.”He whines, looking up from his phone to Kyungsoo sitting across from him. His eyes are pleading.

 

Kyungsoo sighs, holding down a groan. Trying to explain Junmyeon without sounding like a total dick isn’t easy. Usually because every encounter he’s had with the guy has ended with them arguing and never finding steady ground. They both started running their race about the same time and have never once had a good encounter after the day they met. 

 

“He’s the one buying me out. He owns a lot of places around here.” Kyungsoo says finally, leaning back in the chair and closing his eyes. 

 

“Seriously?”

 

Kyungsoo hums, listening to the sound of metal chopsticks finally hitting the bowl. 

 

“I was gonna ask you to come out with me tonight,” Jongin says, mouth stuffed, “But you look like you need some sleep.”

 

Kyungsoo pries his eyes open to look at Jongin across the table. After the day he’s had, it was a tempting offer, but he is also very tired, but also very stressed.

  
  


And somehow, Kyungsoo agreed to go. He’s very rarely gone out with Jongin outside of work, he usually makes excuses every time with the whole “going through paperwork” thing, and Jongin stopped asking for some time. Kyungsoo doesn’t usually go out to drink, he’s more the type to stay inside where it’s quiet and he can watch a movie or two before he falls asleep at some point. 

 

Jongin met him at some little bar a few minutes walk from his own place. At first glance he nearly didn’t recognize him because he was in casual clothes and his hair fell neatly over his head, not combed up like he usually has it. 

 

Jongin waves him over when he sees Kyungsoo looking around absentmindedly. 

 

Kyungsoo usually has enough conscience when he drinks that he knows when he’s reached his limit. But when Jongin asked for a bottle of Soju and started pouring shots Kyungsoo threw every remaining decency of himself away, letting it all burn with the alcohol running down his throat. He lets Jongin ramble about work and the office and still somehow managed to ask about “Tall Giggly Man” in reference to Chanyeol and Kyungsoo really doesn’t have a single fucking clue. 

 

They take turns doing this. Shooting down a shot or two and drunkenly rambling about their deep frustrations. Kyungsoo mostly about the regrets he has about shutting down, Jongin about how his air conditioning went out, anything and everything, and it feels  _ great _ . 

 

Alcohol gets Kyungsoo to talk way more than what he would typically. With Jongin egging him on he doesn’t stop. He vents about Junmyeon coming in to harass him before Jongin came in, he talked about his whole melt down in front of Baekhyun both times, he lets Jongin hear it all not caring enough whether they’ll remember it by tomorrow. 

 

The ground is way too loud under Kyungsoo’s feet and he shuffles down the road, humming mindlessly to himself through the empty streets. It’s quiet, the sound of his voice bounces off the windows and echoes down the alley ways as Kyungsoo’s feet drag along the pavement. 

 

He stumbles a few times, his steps falling out of rhythm and his vision becoming too hazy to make out trash cans or street lamps. The walk up the hill towards his place is tretarous, and he’s panting and out of breath as he makes it up gets a little closer to the hazy golden glow that he’s so familiar with, along with the sad looking figure under it, too. 

 

He doesn’t say anything, but Baekhyun does, asking where he was and something else that Kyungsoo doesn’t really make out because he’s too drunk, too tired, too stressed to listen to anyone, especially him.  

 

“You…” Kyungsoo mutters, pointing at Baekhyun, finger just centimeters from his face. “Youuu…”

 

Baekhyun’s eyes cross as they follow Kyungsoo’s sudden gesture, refocusing thm and blinking as he looks at Kyungsoo. 

“Mist-Kyungsoo. Hey,”

 

“Did you drink? Are you drunk?”   
  
“I told you- I told to stay away didn’t I?” Kyungsoo presses his finger straight into the space between the other man’s eyebrows.

 

“Why-” Kyungsoo’s eyes narrow, he groans and stumbles forward a little, taking a grip on Baekhyun’s shoulder to keep his balance. 

 

“Why the fuck do you keep showing up?” 

 

“Well,” Baekhyun’s eyes nervously avoid Kyungsoo’s, “I was gonna bring your pots back… Cause… They’re yours.”

 

“My  _ what _ ?”

 

“The pots. From the ramen you brought this morning.” Baekhyun says, taking a half step back to open some breathing room and look at Kyungsoo properly. 

 

“Come on,” Baekhyun takes Kyungsoo gently by the arm that he had been steadying himself against the male with. He tries to pull away, tripping over his own feet as he does so, and lets Baekhyun direct him up to the door. 

 

“What’s your security code?”

 

“Uhm,” 

 

“Oh my god, you don’t know?”

 

“Fuck off, of course I-Of Course I know.” Kyungsoo slurs, digging around for his keys “Zero, seven…”

 

He aims for the keyhole, misses, swears, tries again, misses.

 

“Twoooo...” He jabs for the keyhole again. Stupid fucking thing won’t go in. 

 

Baekhyun takes the key, turns it around, inserts it straight into the lock without a word. 

  
Kyungsoo quietly turns the lock as he he hums, completely forgetting that he was trying to figure out his alarm code, being painfully reminded as soon as he opens the door. 

 

Baekhyun runs to find it, peeking around the corner asking what the last digit was, leaving Kyungsoo to stare blankly at the male with his mouth hanging open. 

 

“Zero, seven, two, what?”

 

“What?”

 

“The last number? What’s the last number?”

 

“Of what?”

 

“The alarm!”

 

“Oh.” Kyungsoo mutters, e blinks shrugs, and walks towards the worried figure around the corner, nudging him to the side as he punches in the code blindly. 

 

“Five? You couldn’t have told me it was five?”

 

“I forgot.”

 

Baekhyun lets out a heavy sigh, takes Kyungsoo gently by the wrist, earning another weak tug in effort to try and walk on his own. 

 

“I don’t need your… Stupid fucking help.”

 

“Yeah, you kinda do.” Baekhyun takes the chance to pull Kyungsoo’s arm up around both his shoulders. Kyungsoo groans and tries to pull himself off of Baekhyun, a string of incoherent words falling breathily off his lips as Baekhyun heaves him up the stairs and into his home. 

 

“Keys.” Baekhyun says, hoisting Kyungsoo up with a grunt as Kyungsoo’s face turns sour and he digs into his pockets again, but when Baekhyun reaches out take the keys, Kyungsoo pulls back in the opposite direction, as if to silently say that he is perfectly capable of unlocking his own door. 

 

He isn’t. Baekhyun had to unlock it again and listen to Kyungsoo mutter more about not needing help and how Baekhyun shouldn’t even be here. 

 

“Honestly I didn’t wanna come but now I’m glad I did.” Baekhyun grunts again, pulling Kyungsoo inside, kicking the door shut. 

 

“You shouldn’t be. I told you to stay away for a reason.” Kyungsoo huffs as Baekhyun makes the attempt to lay Kyungsoo on the couch and ask him for his reasoning, but ends up toppling into the cushions with him. 

 

Baekhyun apologizes quickly, pushing himself up hurriedly and watching as Kyungsoo moves to adjust himself, bingin his leg up to untie his shoes. He ends up blindly pawing at them and tugging uselessly at the strings, his eyes half lidded and falling shut. 

 

“Oh my god, you’re totally useless.” Baekhyun sighs, bending down to pull at the strings and undo them, pulling off one shoe, then the other, and tossing them over to land with a loud clank next to the door. 

 

Water, he needs water. Baekhyun had no intentions of taking care of a toddler at only 11:30 at night, but here he is trying to map out Kyungsoo’s house and tear through his cupboards looking for a glass. 

 

Kyungsoo is half asleep by the time he returns with a glass of water, carefully shaking the man awake, bringing one of his hands up to take the glass. Kyungsoo does get a few good sips down, groans when he swallows, and opens his eyes to look at Baekhyun. 

 

“Why are you still here?” The question is bitter sounding, it drips with some kind of anger.

 

“It’s literally been five minutes.” Baekhyun says, shifting his weight as he watches Kyungsoo slowly push himself up from where he was laying. 

 

“Go home. Don’t come back. I’m banning pretty business owners from stepping foot in here ever again. You and Junmyeon can both go fuck yourselves.” Kyungsoo is sitting, but he’s leaning sideways into the cushions, head hanging down uncomfortably and his words are hard to hear with his back turned. Baekhyun should not feel a tinge of heat dance across his neck. 

 

“Junmyeon?” He asks, waiting for a response but Kyungsoo waves his hand as if to dismiss it. 

 

“You and him,” He mumbles, “Nothing more but pretty business owners who wanna watch me fucking suffer.”

 

Baekhyun stays quiet, lips pursing upon hearing Kyungsoo’s words. “I don’t get it.” He breathes, “My parent’s spent half their lives on this place and now look at it… It’s empty. I just got in the way and now… Now look at it. Look at me...”

Baekhyun has no idea what to do. Kyungsoo’s voice trembles a little and he’s unsure if he should just let him continue or actually try and talk to him. 

 

“I’m just a fucking ghost. Just some stupid, useless, fucking… Whatever. I should’ve just sold this place when my dad died why the fuck… Why did I have to get in the way and ruin everything… Why didn’t I just let go?” Kyungsoo is quiet for a few, brief seconds and groans, falling forward. Baekhyun blinks a couple of times and moves to pull him up, offering more water which Kyungsoo takes without putting up an argument. 

 

Baekhyun sets the glass on the coffee table, watching Kyungsoo stare down into his lap. He blinks rapidly, as if he was trying to hold back emotions, closes his eyes and leans back. 

 

Baekhyun sits for a while longer, staring in confusion at the male who seems to have finally fallen asleep in front of him. There are a lot of questions, many of which he’ll have to save for later, just to avoid embarrassing Kyungsoo. He stands up, paces around a little trying to think of where Kyungsoo had blankets from when he ended up here and finally manages to dig them out, taking a couple and draping them over the man. 

 

Baekhyun refills the glass of water, finds a stray notepad in the kitchen, a pen next to it, and makes the move he initially meant to make this morning before Kyungsoo had gone on another rant to try and keep him Baekhyun off his back. 

 

Kyungsoo is sheltered. Kyungsoo is stubborn, and he won’t let Baekhyun help him even though this shabby little place seems to mean a lot to him. Baekhyun isn’t going to push if Kyungsoo genuinely doesn’t want it. He’s curious but also well minded enough to not try and make this more stressful than it already is for him. Baekhyun has been there, he had started G-Light Media from his college dorm room while working two jobs on the side. 

 

But, being stubborn is how Baekhyun managed to rise to be one of the top growing media companies in the country. Being stubborn is what he’s good at. Kyungsoo  _ is  _ good at it, obviously, he’s kept this place open for a while. But Baekhyun is better in more than just wanting this little place to stay open. It’s wanting it’s cute little owner to be happy, too. 

 

He drops the pen, satisfied, and flicks off the light to the kitchen. Being careful to be quiet, he puts the note on the coffee table, weighing it down with the glass of water, and quietly makes his way out. 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy 2019 friends here was some stress 
> 
> I took way too long on this and had to rewrite the ending twice ughghg
> 
> anyways i hope it was alright despite all that i really meant to get this up sooner. 
> 
> Over the new year I posted a sceencap on[Twitter](https://twitter.com/shuaversum) of my stats on here this here. They doubled since I joined in 2017, and it made me emo so here's a little rephrasing of that thread.
> 
> 2018 was a kinda wild year for me and I really came out of my shell a little more and wrote things I actually wanted to and it felt (still does) really good. I tend to belittle myself a lot bc I put a lot of effort into my stories and I feel a little (a lot) invisible compared to the "cool" authors out there. I feel like people don't like chaptered, fantasy stories but it's all I know and my brain works on overdrive literally all day everyday so,,, my outcome is everything u see on my works page. I almost always tend to be the culprit for my lack of motivation simply because I try to compare myself to others and burn my confidence in the process. Good times, I know.  
> That said, I'm gonna try and defeat that mindset this year, and just write as much as I can. Comparing myself, especially my writing to the other things I see won't make me better unless I actually put in the effort. 
> 
> Even if you don't read my other stuff, if you've read it all, whatever, thank you. Thank you for choosing my stupid story and reading it, liking it, supporting it, all that stuff. It really fills my heart up with joy knowing there's real people out there that see my works and say "lol okay" and then like it???? Like,,, Can i please hug u??? It means way more to me than you think, and it makes me want to work even harder. This year I'll do just that, I'll update more frequently, I'll continue to post these stupid ideas I have, I promise to try and improve and be better because I genuinely enjoy it. Thank you again, from the bottom of my stupid, stupid heart.


	4. 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi I took a short break since I was a little burnt out from stuff and needed a couple days to just sit back and try and not think about how bad I am. Anyways, this turned out a little messy, but I've had the ending planned for a while it was just a matter of filling in the gaps... And those gaps ended up making 7.1k for this chapter... Oops. 
> 
> Reminder that all my fics are unbetad so the messiness and disorganization and stupid, grammatical and spelling errors are all on me: Sol, 19, never fucking learned how 2 read.

 

  
  
  
  


_ Good morning Mister!! I hope you don’t feel too awful today, you were a sight last night…  _

_ I returned the pots you brought yesterday downstairs. Please rest, and make use of this number when you get a chance since I was the last one to see you alive!!! Night !!! ♡ _

 

_ Baekhyun ♡ _

  
  


“You’re fucking kidding me.” 

 

The overuse of exclamation points was enough, plus he put two hearts. Just when he thought he succeeded at making the guy hate him, making him stay away for good, he turns around and does this. Getting this CEO off his back feels like it’s going to be impossible. 

 

Kyungsoo’s tired eyes focus in on the digits scrawled microscopically on the note. He probably ran out of room from writing so much he had to squeeze it in there. Kyungsoo contemplates even trying to get a hold of the person behind the number. Texting is very hard for him to do in a timely manner with a phone from 2009 and he still has to pay to talk to people.

 

He gets as far as putting the number in and saving it under  _ CEO Bastard _ before he sighs and carefully pushes himself up from the couch. His neck is sore, his eyes hurt because he didn’t take his contacts out, and he would rather just die on his stupid couch but the wavering thought enters his mind that Baekhyun had no way to lock the restaurant from the outside when he left so it’s been sitting unlocked… All night. 

 

Kyungsoo has to be careful not to trip down the stairs on his way to check on things. He was too panicked to get his glasses, the idea that someone, maybe even Baekhyun could have taken what little of his restaurant he has life makes his heart clench. When he bursts inside the restaurant it’s quiet. Two pots sit stacked in each other on a table near the door. 

 

Kyungsoo breathes a sigh of relief, and makes a quick sweep around the place to make sure it’s exactly where he left it. It is. Nothing was touched, thankfully. He half expected Baekhyun to nose around a little and take advantage of Kyungsoo’s state but he didn’t. He just came in to finish what he travelled here for. 

 

Kyungsoo almost doesn’t notice the slips of paper sitting inside one of the pots until he hears the rustling. Carefully, he reaches in and pulls out… Money. It’s not a check, thankfully. Knowing if there was one thing Baekhyun could try and pull off when Kyungsoo was drunk it would be attempting to write out another stupid check. 

 

He counts it out slowly, his mind being too muddled to tell how much at first glance. It’s 55,000 won. A little much for two pots but Kyungsoo will consider it catering at this point as he counts it all away. This guy is really impossible. Kyungsoo has drilled his point through Baekhyun’s head multiple times and still, he doesn’t back down. 

 

“ _ Hello?” _

 

“You left my restaurant unlocked all night.”

 

_ “Nice to hear you made use of my note. You get the pots?” _

 

“Yeah… Thanks.”

 

Kyungsoo can hear Baekhyun snicker over the phone, it’s quiet for a split second and Baekhyun suddenly chirps,  _ “It’s a good thing you decided to call me, I actually had to talk to you about something, but I have a conference to go to and Jongdae is gonna kick my ass if I’m late. Mind if I stop over like… Tomorrow? You’re closed today.” _

 

“What?”

 

_ “Yeah, I’m coming- Listen, I gotta run. Tomorrow, okay?” _

 

Kyungsoo is about to curse at him but Baekhyun hangs the phone up before he can get a word out. 

 

“Mind if I stop over tomorrow?” Kyungsoo mocks, shoving his phone in his pocket and shuffling back upstairs. Jongin made a good call on going drinking the night before because Kyungsoo is closed today and he is not too keen on running a business while his head is spinning. 

 

Kyungsoo actually locks the door to the restaurant, sulks back upstairs, to take a painkiller and falls into his bed. He isn’t the type to do nothing, especially on a day off, but Jongin managed to send him off the deep end last night. He remembers Baekhyun showing up, he remembers seeing him, but he doesn’t remember the conversation they shared. He doesn’t remember any traces of even talking to Baekhyun but Kyungsoo knows he probably said way too many things to the CEO that would’ve taken him much longer to say if he was sober. And that makes him panic just a little. 

 

God, what if that’s what Baekhyun is gonna ask about? Kyungsoo probably talked a bunch of shit on Junmyeon or probably told Baekhyun how much he hated him to his face, he probably gave the guy an earful on shutting down or something. Kyungsoo has way too many problems that he can’t imagine what may have slipped out of his mouth. 

 

If he was looking for a way to make Baekhyun hate him, that obviously wasn’t it. 

 

Now he’s been cursed with having to meet him again tomorrow. 

 

Fuck, he wasn’t trying take Kyungsoo on a date or something, right? Wait, Baekhyun didn’t say it was a date though. Fuck, he thinks, he just assumed Baekhyun… 

 

Nope. No, that’s bad. That’s a bad thing and Kyungsoo should not be thinking a things like that when he has much better things to worry about, like his business, and making his best attempt at keeping it open even though the chances of him failing at that are very, very high. 

  
  


Fuck it, Kyungsoo can’t sleep like this. He rolls out of bed, trying to ignore the headache and fuzziness as he slumps into his desk chair, opens his drawer, and pulls out the one thing that has probably ever seen him cry besides his parents. 

 

Minseok made way too many good points yesterday about reasons why he’s failing. Even though Kyungsoo does a good job at the technical stuff, like the financing and inventory, he also called Kyungsoo out on not relying enough on people, and not having the confidence to make things better, to innovate above his what his parents left him with, to generally appeal to a community that is constantly changing. 

 

It hurt. He knows he should have tried harder but the thought of changing things makes him shudder. Kyungsoo thought he went to the ends of the world for this little place, he spent nights off handing out flyers anywhere he could and trying to make himself seen and tried to stand out, but  _ he  _ never did change. He never got too creative with anything, he never rotated food on the menu or had nights dedicated for trying new items. Kyungsoo just kept things as they were and expected everything to remain that way. 

  
It isn’t that Kyungsoo lacks total confidence in his craft. He enjoys it, he has a passion for it, but something about the idea of changing has always scared him and made him too anxious to really do anything super interesting or above and beyond what most people’s expectations. It’s the same reason past relationships never worked out, it’s the same reason he pushes people away. Change is a scary thing to him, always. 

 

Now he’s beginning to understand where he’s gone wrong, and it’s too late. 

  
  


His phone buzzes off to the side, making him jump, and lose complete concentration in whatever he was doing. 

 

_ From: CEO Bastard _

 

_ > I really hope this is you  _

 

_ > You as in Kyungsoo _

_   
_ _ > I forgot to mention that I have something planned for tomorrow, please be excited ;) _

 

“Planned” He thinks. The more Baekhyun shows up to ruin his day the more confused he gets about who he really is. Cute, young, spunky CEO who doesn’t seem totally awful but still makes Kyungsoo involuntarily resist his efforts to help him. Kyungsoo can tell he’s genuine, but Kyungsoo is genuine when he says he doesn’t need it. It’s not that he isn’t grateful that for once someone has decided to step and give him a hand, he is. But the act is so… Unlikely that for it to happen to him of all people just doesn’t sit right with him. 

 

Kyungsoo is single, not married, no kids, and still has a little bit of his twenties to live out. He’ll survive even with a lifetime of debt and no degree. Sure, it’s not his ideal way of living. It’s not anyone’s ideal way of living, but he out himself into this situation knowing there would be consequences if he failed, and he failed. 

There’s business owners who are the exact opposite of his situation; parents, couples, struggling families that would happily take that same offer Baekhyun had given him some days ago for rent or orders or even some groceries. It would make things a million times easier for them than Kyungsoo, who is only one person, therefore, doesn’t require as much to get by. 

 

Point is, Kyungsoo rejected for a reason. Explaining that to Baekhyun is nearly impossible, and for that reason, keeps showing up at his door at random hours of the night. Kyungsoo is starting to think Baekhyun has a lot of time outside of being a CEO. 

  
  
  
  
  


\-- -- -- 

  
  
  
  
  
  


_ From: CEO Bastard _

 

_ 4:30 P.M _

 

_ >  So Kyungja, I was wondering… _

 

_ >  Where did the ramen thing come from ???? Dont get me wrong, its good but.. _

 

_ >  Ramen… what inspired it…... _

_ 4:31 P.M _

_ Dont you have a business to run  < _

 

_ Like a real one  < _

 

_ 4:31 P.M _

_ >  Who said I cant multitask. _

 

_ >  Its my speacialty.  _

 

_ 4:32 P.M _ _   
_ _ >  Among other things ;) _

_ 4:35 P.M _

_ My parents went to Japan for a while  < _

 

_ My dad really liked the food  < _

 

_ Brought it back here w them  < _

 

_ Here we are.  < _

 

_ 4:40 P.M _

_ Wait what other things  < _

 

_ What the fuck  < _

 

 

Baekhyun has somehow managed to keep Kyungsoo distracted from business and non-business matters all day. Even when he had finished his paperwork and sealed it all up to return to the offices, he was hurling strings of text messages that Kyungsoo didn’t have the time to answer. One after another, series of questions, Kyungsoo has never tried to type on his silly little phone faster. 

 

_ CEO Bastard: _

 

_ 5:00 P.M _

_ >  You take a really long time to respond you know. _

_ 5:02 P.M _

_ My phone is old  < _

 

_ Like 2009 old  < _

_ 5:03 P.M _

_ >  Youre kidding _

 

_ >  Mister……  _

 

_ >  ……..you use…. a flip phone ????? _

_ 5:05 P.M _

_ Yeah  < _

 

_ What about it  < _

  
  


Kyungsoo sighs, tossing his phone to the opposite end of the couch, trying to focus on what he was watching, only for it to buzz again. And two more times immediately after that. He hasn’t stopped all day. Kyungsoo is pretty sure the longest he went without responding was seven minutes (he counted). 

 

It’s been an exhausting week, probably the most strange week Kyungsoo has ever had in his entire life, and now that he’s finished with punching all the numbers and making his eyes burn by looking at papers for too long, he’s trying to relax. Just a little, by watching the new movie he bought about a month ago but neglected because he’s just too damn busy. 

 

He tries to remind himself that minor accomplishments, like going to the post office to mail out all these documents, are still accomplishments, and they still matter. They’ve been a lot of stress, a lot of going through only part way only to put it away, a lot of frustration, it’s totally drained him. Now he’s going to start getting mass amounts of phone calls and will have to go over all this stuff again. 

 

He’s almost there, he just needs to look for a new apartment, a new job, and put this place up on the market. 

 

Apartment, job, sell, done. 

 

Job, apartment, sell, done. 

  
  


Fuck, now Kyungsoo is panicking. Six months, he has six months to get this all settled and he’ll be good. He doesn’t need to worry right now, he’ll have enough time tomorrow to look for new gigs. 

 

Wait, but the rent is due in four days.

  
  


Now his foot bobbing nervously as his eyes stare holes into the ceiling trying to think this through. He still feels like he has a million steps to go and he’s still so far behind. 

 

Subconsciously, Kyungsoo knows he has time, but at the same time, he feels like the world is gonna end if he doesn’t have his shit together. Another thought, in the next four days, it’ll be five months and that’s going to send him in a frenzy. Kyungsoo has blocked out any and all dialogue from the movie now, his foot is still nervously bouncing. 

 

He groans, sitting up and snatching his phone from where it fell between the cushion and arm of the couch and reads the messages from Baekhyun. 

 

_ From: CEO Bastard _

 

_ 5:05 P.M _

 

_ >  I honestly cant believe I just read this with my own two eyes.  _

 

_ >  How have I never noticed this…  _

 

_ >  You keep getting more and more interesting Mister >< _

  
  


He really needs to stop calling Kyungsoo ‘Mister’. It makes him feel more like an old guy than he already does. 

  
  


_ To: CEO Bastard  _

 

_ 5:07 P.M _

_ >  Stop calling me that.  _

 

_ >  and it’s embarrassing to show. _

  
  


Kyungsoo is not exactly proud of whipping out a Samsung flip phone that he received in 2009. It was a high school graduation gift from his parents and he’s managed to hold onto it ever since. Putting his money into the restaurant and not bothering to get a new one. As long as it worked, he would be okay. Sure, he can’t listen to music or drown out the chatter of people around him with a push of a button, and he can’t waste his time watching videos or playing rhythm tap games, like Jongin does, but he’ll be okay. Maybe once he gets out of this mess he can focus on getting one. 

 

He’ll admit, Baekhyun is a good distraction from his intruding thoughts and anxiety. For a few minutes he managed to immediately drag Kyungsoo out of his sudden wave of to-dos just by harassing him about his phone and then changing the subject by asking what he’s having for dinner. 

 

If Kyungsoo hadn’t stepped foot inside his office, he would have never believed this guy was a CEO. Never. 

 

Kyungsoo responds, just telling Baekhyun that he’s having some stuff his mom had sent home with him, and Baekhyun chimes in with exactly what he was expecting to hear from the man. 

 

A snarky sounding “Mind if I join?” complete with another fucking winky face. He knows, or should know, what Kyungsoo’s answer would be and he still ended up replying with a sad face. 

  
  
  


Baekhyun is hard to try and tell goodnight to. 

 

He ended up mass texting Kyungsoo all night. Kyungsoo ended up having to ignore them and wait until the morning because they just kept coming in. By the time Kyungsoo had woken up to check his phone, he had 11 text messages from Baekhyun, all from late hours of the night, minus one, from early in the morning, reminding him about tonight. 

 

That’s right. After Baekhyun being a thorn in his side yesterday evening, he almost forgot that the CEO wanted to stop by tonight. Asking what for is probably going to get him nowhere, so he doesn’t bother answering and leaves his phone on his bedside table as he goes to get showered. 

 

Kyungsoo had plans today. Plans to occupy himself rather than just staring out the window and being way too envious of everyone walking past. He’s going to look for a new job today. Something help ease his sudden spike in nerves. Something to just get him by. 

 

A quick time check as he towels off his hair, he slips on a clean shirt, grabs his phone, and makes his way downstairs to get the shop ready. 

 

When he was younger and the place had more frequent guests, Kyungsoo’s father would always nag him to put the chairs on the tables and clean the floor. Make sure the seat of the chair is sitting on the table, legs up in the air so they won’t scratch the table. Every chair in the place would go up on the table and Kyungsoo would be getting his daily cardio by sweeping and mopping the joint twice a day. 

 

Even now, despite the lack of people coming in and out, Kyungsoo still has a habit of pulling out a broom and dustpan and getting to work first thing. Thing is, Kyungsoo didn’t stack the chairs up. He hasn’t since the night Baekhyun showed up. Blame it on being too tired, blame it on being too busy, blame it all on everything but him. He’s a stupid CEO who he should have turned around after he fed. 

 

A stupid CEO with a really nice face… Goddammit. 

  
  


Kyungsoo has to stack the chairs on the tables, sweep the floor, then take them all back down again. Flips on the stupid light up sign in the window, double checks to make sure it’s actually on in case someone is curious to know about his existence, and wait. 

 

Kyungsoo manages to pass time by using the shop computer to write out a resume since he’s never had one, sipping coffee in between, then getting distracted by a buzz in his pocket. 

 

Baekhyun wants to know what kind of music he likes. 

 

"R&B" is all he says. It’s not even noon yet and Baekhyun has managed to creep his way back into Kyungsoo’s inbox. 

 

It took Kyungsoo way too long to figure out how to make a resume, even longer to figure out how the template worked on the application, plus writing it out to make himself sound like he knew his shit… It took up the bulk of his day. 

 

Not to forget the sprinkle of annoying texts from someone who really should focus on their job, Kyungsoo had taken a lot longer to finish one part of what he intended to do. 

 

It was hard not to think about the possibility of the upcoming evening. The more time that passed, the more apprehensive Kyungsoo found himself getting that he nearly didn’t notice Jongin coming inside. 

 

“You okay?” He asks, taking his usual seat, lips pouting, eyes full of concern. 

 

“Hm? Yeah, I’m good. Just busy today.” Kyungsoo says, watching Jongin pull off his jacket and drape it over the back of his chair. 

 

“Busy, huh?” The younger repeats, hinting smirk on his face and Kyungsoo stares at him in confusion as he brings a glass of water to his table, setting it down on the table, eyes not catching onto the others. 

 

“Busy as in I was trying to find a new job so I can have somewhere to go after I close. What did you think?” Kyungsoo asks, pulling out a chair and taking a seat, finally meeting Jongin’s eyes again. His playing smirk falls into a pout again, he twists the glass around on the table slowly with his fingers. 

 

He shrugs, “I dunno. I thought you had people today… Maybe that CEO you like so much… ”

 

“Who? Baekhyun? How would that make sense, he’s b- Wait, what? _Like_?”

 

Jongin shrugs innocently, sips on his water with his gaze wandering around the open space, he puts the glass on the table, “You said he’s been in here a lot…”

 

“Yeah but that doesn’t mean that I like him, dummy.” Kyungsoo scoffs, standing up and making his way to the kitchen to get started on Jongin’s food before  the man can chime in on anything else and make Kyungsoo sputter. 

 

“Like” is a broad term. Too broad for Kyungsoo. He can admit honestly that Baekhyun was cute, charming in his own unique way, but would Kyungsoo have a chance? Probably not, considering his situation. Add on his lack of confidence and that’s a perfect recipe to make the CEO really hate him. 

 

He doesn’t like him. But there was nothing wrong with admiring him from a distance, or keeping him in the back of his mind because chances are, Kyungsoo is going to find some way to push Baekhyun away. 

 

Don’t think about it. Kyungsoo gets busy on preparing Jongin’s ramen and tries not to think about it. A week. It’s literally only been a week and somehow, Kyungsoo has felt like he’s known Baekhyun his whole life. The guy has already seen his bad side, his generous side, him being scared and absolutely shit-faced, what more of himself can he show that will embarrass him tonight? 

 

By the time Kyungsoo is bringing out Jongin’s ramen, there’s three more people sitting at a booth off to the far side of the shop. 

 

Jongin whispers something to Kyungsoo as he hurries over to the table, all smiles and discarding any intrusive CEO thoughts as he welcomes the group, asking them what he can get them to drink, telling them what he does, what the added ingredients are, how much it is, and soon he’s running back and forth with drinks and taking orders. 

 

Maybe his bell is broken, maybe he’s still thinking too loud to hear anyone come in. He’s just clearing up Jongin’s bowl and about to take his card when a sudden flood of people push inside and take their seats. 

 

“Fuck.”

 

“Whoa, Hyung, what’s all this?”

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t respond, only stares like a deer in the headlights. His blood is pumping way too fast and his thoughts are all over the place. He silently hurries to run Jongin’s card, anxiously waiting for his ticket to print out to take it back, this time he hears the bell chime, more people walk in, he waves and tells them to sit anywhere they’d like, that he’ll be over soon.

 

Jongin is standing closeby, looking over his shoulder every now and then at the accumulating crowd on the floor, then back to Kyungsoo, who hands him his card and ticket. 

 

“That’s quite a bit of people. Do you… Can I help you?” Jongin asks, looking back over his shoulder again, “I can be your… Unofficial waiter or something. You can’t go through all of these people and then cook it all, Soo.”

 

“Uhm,” Kyungsoo watches the door, bottom lip caught between his teeth and another few people file inside, taking seats. He nods silently, mumbling a quiet “Yeah, okay.” to Jongin as he fumbles for his notepad and hands it to the male, along with his pen. 

 

It took a second to dig for in the supply closet, but he eventually found the aprons that would have been worn had he actually had employees, and tosses one to Jongin, leading him over to the kitchen. 

 

“Add ons to the ramen is an extra five-hundred won, tables are organized by the rows moving lateral. One being that one there,” Kyungsoo points towards the table sitting outside the kitchen, “And eighteen being that far one way down there. Booths are the same. Orders get pinned up on the line right above where the veggies are laid out and I’ll put the ticket on the tray when it’s ready.” 

 

Kyungsoo almost swears when he hears the door chime again, “Also, you need to take care of drinks, be a nice boy, don’t drop anything. Okay?”

 

Jongin nods, clutching tightly onto the pen and notepad as he scurries out of the door, leaving Kyungsoo to get as much prepped as quickly as he can without amputating one of his fingers or burning his hands. 

 

Jongin returns with the first few orders in a matter of minutes and Kyungsoo is quick to jump on them. It’s that temporary blackout moment again, Kyungsoo’s body moving exactly where it needs to go without a second thought. His hands kneading out dough, tossing vegetables, to get ready for small appetizers, throwing others into the broth for cooking. 

 

Kyungsoo hasn’t felt his heart pump like this forever. His heart is about to burst from the anticipation and sudden excitement and adrenaline of it all. This is the kind of stuff he saw his parents do when he was a kid. This is what he dreamed about doing all those times he told his teachers he wanted to own a restaurant. This is what it was supposed to be all along. 

 

“Fuck, Hyung this is crazy.” Jongin says, pinning up a couple more orders on the line as Kyungsoo throws the noodles into each of the corresponding broths, “Yeah, no kidding. I wonder what sparked it.”

 

“You think your friendly CEO had anything to do with it?”

 

“Shut up and go fill glasses.”

 

“Whatever you say, Chef.” Jongin sings sings, walking out of the kitchen with a little too much confidence. 

 

First booth is down, the next table follows after that. Kyungsoo repeats the orders Jongin has scrawled down on the paper to himself, making sure to add black mushrooms and boiled eggs to the spicy ramen, fish cakes to the tonkatsu, and to not touch his face after he cuts jalapenos. 

Jongin is in and out silently. He’s working way more diligently than Kyungsoo had thought he would. He doesn’t seem the least bit pressured under the crowd and is taking it all like a champ. Kyungsoo is definitely going to treat him after all this is over, Kyungsoo would have died had Jongin not been there to make the offer. 

“Uh, Hyung.” Jongin taps his shoulder making Kyungsoo jump and face the taller, “You have… Someone…” 

 

“What? Jongin I’m busy just tell them to give me a minute and I’ll be right out.”

 

“No it’s… Your CEO.”

 

“So? Tell him to wait.”

 

“But he said-” 

 

“ _ I _ said  _ wait _ .”

 

Jongin obeys and scampers out of sight again, only for the sound of the door flinging open sounds. Kyungsoo doesn’t flinch, doesn’t even take his eyes off of his task at hand, “Jongin he’s gonna have to wait I don’t care who he is, I’m-”

 

“ _ Oh _ .”

 

Baekhyun is all smiles as he stands in the middle of the kitchen, hands clasped behind his back, stupid grin on his face. Cute, Kyungsoo thinks, but why. Why is he standing there?

 

“I went to all this work just for you to make me wait. I’m gonna file a complaint.”

 

“I’m busy. So unless you want to wait tables for me, then I’ll make you suffer for a few minutes.” Kyungsoo says, attention turning back to the vegetables, chopping them up and tossing them into the mix. Baekhyun isn’t even allowed here right now, why does he think he can do this now, of all times?

 

“Perfect!” He claps his hands together, beaming, “I’ll help your cute little waiter then. Where are those aprons, I want one too.” 

 

Kyungsoo sighs, tells him where the supply closet is, and waits until Baekhyun makes a sound of achievement and closes the door, tying an apron around his waist and then awkwardly hovering a few feet away from Kyungsoo. 

 

“So, boss...” He drags, “What do I do?”

 

“You can start by taking these out,” Kyungsoo says, ripping the ticket off the line and laying it on a tray, placing four piping bowls of ramen on it, being careful not to spill any of the broth, “Jongin will help you with the rest.”

 

Baekhyun doesn’t say anything, he just slowly reaches out to grip the tray, lips pursed in effort not to spill or drop anything, knuckles white from the weight. He walks slowly, one foot after another, step by miserable step, until he pushes the door of the kitchen out, and disappears. 

 

He should have known that fucker planned this. Kyungsoo didn’t even think to connect the two until Baekhyun had mentioned going to all the trouble. All those people out in the dining room are probably all people from his company, people that all work under him. Still, even after the two attempts he’s made within the past week, this one has been the least obnoxious and one that Kyungsoo can’t really turn against. 

 

Even though the thought that he’ll never see any of these people, minus the two stumbling servers that are laughing way too loud, ever again, it still warms his heart that they made the trip. Coming all the way to the outskirts of the city for some mediocre, handmade ramen, was not something people usually do. It’s more than likely there are carbon copies of his establishment in the city, that are close by and convenient already.

 

To think that just last night, Kyungsoo was losing his breath over the idea that he’d come out a little short on rent again, and now he’s sweating buckets while frying tofu and making broths while he has a full dining room waiting. 

 

Maybe having Baekhyun around isn’t awful. When he actually thinks things through, carefully and skillfully takes Kyungsoo’s worries into account, and then finds a way to make it work out while still holding onto his original intentions, was almost a little scary. 

 

Then again, it isn’t like he made each one of his points hard to understand. Kyungsoo made it crystal clear to him multiple times. 

  
  
  


Baekhyun was lucky that the people he ended up serving were his own employees and coworkers because in any other case Kyungsoo would probably have fired him. He took the trays out way to slowly and he talked for way too long with everyone, he kept forgetting the layout of the tables and ended up accidentally serving extra spicy ramen to Chanyeol, who they have now found out can’t tolerate spicy food for the life of him. Poor Jongin was a flustered mess as he tried to apologize for Baekhyun, who was trying to apologize over Jongin. 

 

Jongin was a flustered, panting mess and was a heaving against the counter by the end of the night. For a second Kyungsoo thought he was going to collapse right there in his kitchen. Kyungsoo ended up cutting his index finger and nipping his thumb, leaving his left hand covered in two bandages, and Baekhyun was complaining about his arms being sore and his wrists hurting from carrying the trays back and forth. 

 

All three of them were standing around in the kitchen, trying to catch a breath, get a grip on themselves, and give Kyungsoo an update on how things were going. 

 

Kyungsoo has heard the chatter ascend everytime the door opened and then die down as soon as it closed. He hasn’t gotten a chance to even look outside yet but when he does he can’t help the grin that pulls at his lips. 

  
  


Every single seat is full. People are eating, and laughing and talking among themselves, drinking, joking. If it wasn’t for the throb in Kyungsoo’s fingers to remind him of the pain, he would have thought this was a dream. He can’t stop staring, he probably looks like a little kid meeting their favorite character at Disney with the way his eyes light up and the small laughs that bubble in his chest. 

 

Kyungsoo stands there taking it all in. Every face, every smile and giggle, and sound of glass pinging. The simple image of just having a full seat. Kyungsoo absorbs every bit of it.

 

If he could turn around and squeeze the hell out of that stupid CEO that keeps joking behind his back he would, because nothing could ever compare to this. 

 

Kyungsoo hasn’t felt this much joy for what he does in a long, long time. It’s like that feeling of dusting off an old relic. The way it shines, that way it’s color returns, vibrant against the gray and monochromatics, the way it just  _ feels  _ lighter. Kyungsoo forgot what passion felt like. He forgot this kind of feeling, he forgot this sort of weightlessness that came with doing something he was truly passionate about. Kyungsoo had given up, accepted that the direction he was falling was the way he’d continue forever.

 

To be able to feel like this, even for a few hours, minutes, was enough to make him feel okay about all this. Bad or good outcome, he’s going to remember this moment all thanks to 

 

“Baekhyun.”

 

Kyungsoo turns around, facing the male who is leaned up against the counter opposite to Jongin. He turns his head up, eyes bright and wide, lips parted slightly. A bead of sweat falls down the side of his face. 

 

“Thank you.” Kyungsoo finally manages to get the words out. Baekhyun smiles, tilts his head, “You deserve this.”

 

Kyungsoo huffs in response, turning to look back outside at the crowd. 

 

“You should go out there. They need to meet the master behind all this.” Baekhyun pipes up from behind him. Kyungsoo puts a hand on the door to push it but freezes, contemplating last second. He has no idea what he would say, where to look. He probably looks like a total mess right now too. 

 

“C’mon, I’ll introduce you.” Baekhyun whines, pushing the door open and stepping in front of Kyungsoo to take the lead. 

 

Baekhyun does most of the talking for the both of the both of them. Kyungsoo was just hoping no one had noticed how red in the face he was. Baekhyun had thrown his arm around Kyungsoo’s shoulders, pulled him in and practically gushed about Kyungsoo, telling everyone about how he showed up during that storm and how Kyungsoo fed him. To Kyungsoo’s surprise, Baekhyun left out everything else, saving Kyungsoo the added embarrassment and said he was thankful they met. 

 

It was strange to see so many people in one place and knowing he was responsible for their enjoyment here. He had gone to every single table and made sure things were okay, checked on Chanyeol and apologized for probably the millionth time that night for his two clumsy waiters. Baekhyun even dragged along his COO, Jongdae, who he Kyungsoo had seen briefly but ever properly met, and Minseok, the CFO who he has a hard time looking at now without wanting to hide himself away for the rest of his life. 

 

“If I hadn’t seen you in person I would’ve called Baekhyun a liar. Thanks for saving his ass, seriously.” Jongdae smiles, shaking a very embarrassed Baekhyun by the shoulders. 

 

After everything had gotten delivered out Kyungsoo was left taking everyone’s payments and seeing them out. Kyungsoo tells Jongin not to worry about anything else and that he’ll treat him to something later in the week, and sees him out, with a very tall figure following not far behind. 

 

By 10 it was only Kyungsoo and Baekhyun left, cleaning up bowls, wiping down tables, stacking up chairs, counting out money. 

 

Baekhyun talked Kyungsoo in staying after and helping, claiming that he caused this and he’s going to help stay and cleanup. Kyungsoo was too tired to fight back and sent him off to clear out the dining room while he counted out his cash drawer, put money into the deposit, and stashed it away to take to the bank in the morning. 

 

By that time Baekhyun had only gotten one row of tables cleared and chairs stacked and Kyungsoo had gotten the rest done in record timing. 

  
“This whole business is like your own personal gym or something, I swear.” Baekhyun grunts, lifting a chair up and flipping it to sit on the table the way Kyungsoo showed him. 

 

Kyungsoo huffs, stacking up another few chairs, and moving onto another table. He really has no idea what to say now. He feels completely burnt out of conversation at this point and can only spare glances and breaths in response to anything Baekhyun says. 

 

After another few awkward minutes of silence of stacking chairs and clearing out any other bowls and utensils, Kyungsoo and Baekhyun stood side by side at the sink washing and putting everything away.

 

Kyungsoo washed, and passed it off to Baekhyun who put it in its proper place on the drying rack. It was strange to be standing here doing this with someone, it’s strange to be standing here, sharing a space with someone comfortable. It’s strange not being alone.

 

“Hey,” Baekhyun murmurs, pulling Kyungsoo’s attention to him and out of their now shared silence. 

 

“Can I tell you something?” He asks, taking another bowl from Kyungsoo and setting it on the rack, eyes only turning away for a second before they fall back on Kyungsoo, who looks at the CEO for a moment turning his attention back to the dishes, “Shoot.” He says. 

 

“Tonight was the first time I’ve ever seen you smile.”

 

Kyungsoo pauses scrubbing for a split second and continues. It makes sense considering all he’s done since he’s met Baekhyun is argue with him. Kyungsoo doesn’t look at him, he doesn’t acknowledge any of what Baekhyun has just said because he doesn’t know how.

 

Baekhyun chuckles beside him, “Your lips turn into a little heart, it’s kind of adorable.”

 

“Stop.” Kyungsoo demands, shoving Baekhyun playfully with his elbow, eyes still turned away. 

 

“What? I’m serious.”

 

“I can still kick you out, you know.” Kyungsoo says, glancing up at Baekhyun for a split second. 

 

“You wish.” Baekhyun jibes, “You gonna ban me like you said you would the other night?”

 

Kyungsoo stops, actually pauses this time, and looks up at Baekhyun in confusion, eyebrows pressed together, “What?”

 

Baekhyun shrugs, leaning his waist against the edge of the sink, “You were drunk, so maybe you didn’t meant it, but… You said you would ban ‘pretty business owners’ like me and some other guy from ever coming here again. You’re really a sight when you’re drunk too, by the way.” He smiles. 

 

Kyungsoo turns his head towards the sink just slightly, thinking of another guy, having a name in mind, hoping it isn’t who he thinks it is and asks, “What… What other guy?”

 

Baekhyun’s lips jut out as he hums and think for a name, “I don’t remember. I think the first part was Jun… But you said we could both go fuck off.” He chuckles. 

 

Oh no. He not only told off Baekhyun, but  _ Junmyeon  _ too. There’s no telling what else he said to Baekhyun that night and he isn’t sure if now it’s safe to ask. 

 

Kyungsoo apologizes, saying that he had a particularly rough day but leaving out any mention of Junmyeon, but didn’t get far. Baekhyun asks who the guy was, and Kyungsoo is quiet for a while trying to think of a decent explantation without sounding like a jackass. 

 

“Kim Junmyeon… He owns a few establishments around here. He’s really good looking, like, model status.” Kyungsoo drawls out slowly, passing some chopsticks off to Baekhyun, who is listening carefully next to him. 

 

“Anyways,” Kyungsoo shakes his head, “He’s… Buying this place out when it goes on the market. We had already established a deal, that’s… That’s why I couldn’t let you when you had offered.”

 

Baekhyun is uncomfortably quiet. He takes the utensils Kyungsoo passes him and puts them away, but he doesn’t say anything. 

 

“Him and I have sort of been butting heads for a few years. We both started this business thing around the same time and since then he’s made it his mission to buy me out. It’s a big reason I’ve lost so much business.”

 

Kyungsoo is careful to bite his tongue after that. He doesn’t want to spill too much about Junmyeon or talk too much about himself, there’s no telling how Baekhyun will take it, and Kyungsoo doesn’t want to drag out his problems more than he already has. 

 

“I see.” Is all Baekhyun responds, with, brushing their shoulders together slightly when he takes a bowl from Kyungsoo. 

 

“He already made me a pretty good offer. I didn’t have a choice at the time.”

 

“No I get it,” Baekhyun sighs, “It’s just that you’ve lost so much in a only few years and haven’t gained anything in return.”

 

Kyungsoo takes another few seconds to process the way Baekhyun had said what he did, following by what he meant. His voice was soft, it sounded genuinely sorry, and Kyungsoo found himself trying to reject the idea.

 

“You got really personal the other night. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.” Baekhyun says, turning to face Kyungsoo and waiting until the male stops what he’s doing.    
  


“Fuck, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to take everything out on you I-” Kyungsoo cuts himself off and worries on his lip before asking,

 

“What all… What all did I say?”

  
“You just complained a lot about my presence. But you talked about your parents at one point. You never told me you lost your dad.”

 

So that’s what he talked about.

Good job, Kyungsoo. Any and all attempts to keep Baekhyun away forever are now non existent. Kyungsoo ended up spilling the tragedy about his father and is now left to explain himself and face the whole series of sympathetic phrases after that he’s heard a million times. At this point he just doesn’t talk about it, and if he does, he doesn’t make it sound like a big deal. It was a thing that happened and it’s over now and he’s moving forward in life. That’s it. 

 

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo sighs, “He died of cancer about four years ago. A year or so before I took over here. He’s kinda the whole reason this place is what it is.” Kyungsoo says, turning to face Baekhyun and handing him a clean bowl. 

 

“You must’ve really looked up to him then, right?” 

 

Kyungsoo nods, turning back to finish off the rest of the dishes. 

 

“I think he’d be really proud you persevered for this long considering all the trouble you’ve faced up until now. It’s not easy, especially all the way out here.” Baekhyun says. He can feel the sincerity in Baekhyun’s voice. It makes flinch. He’s so unused to this. 

 

“Jongdae and I started G-Light in our college dorm room. I worked two jobs while going to school part time. I almost ended up dropping out because I was so exhausted but Jongdae didn’t let me.”

 

“You’re parents would’ve been pissed too, right?” Kyungsoo asks. He pretends not to notice the way Baekhyun’s muscles tighten and relax when Kyungsoo spoke, “Yeah… Something like that. Jongdae was always up my ass about everything though since we were practically inseparable.” 

  
  
  


It took ten minutes for them to finish up at the sink and tenth of a second for Kyungsoo to decide that he wasn’t done, and pulled Baekhyun upstairs with him. Not for any sort of late night activities. Kyungsoo has a little decency. But he didn't get to finish that movie he watched yesterday. 

 

“Fuck, do you work tomorrow?” Kyungsoo asks, pushing the door to his place open and leading Baekhyun inside. 

 

“Probably.” He shrugs, toeing his shoes off “We’ll see tomorrow when Minseok calls me and rate his tone on an annoyance scale from one to ten.”

 

“Aha!” Baekhyun cheers, making Kyungsoo turns to question him, “Second time to make you smile. I think I’m getting good at this.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope this was okay!!! Thank you for reading!
> 
> Things are finally starting to roll and I have a lot planned for this little story so pls stick with me! Comments and stuff are always nice, I reply to everyone. 
> 
> I'm also on [Twitter](https://Twitter.com/shuaversum) where I post short previews of wip chapters and rt a lot of dumb tik-toks and those stupid sasuke choking memes so please come be my friend and send me cute baeksoo prompts or smth.


	5. 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wooooah hello Happy Valentine's Day!!! I'm super happy I was finally able to update this bc I've had this chapter laid out in my head for ages!!! Please enjoy this, I spent way too long frustrating myself about how business stuff works to the point that I'm burnt out fam.  
> Also, I'm sorry this turned out shorter. It was originally supposed to be way longer, but I felt like splitting it into two parts would allow a lot more room for what I really want to dive into. I feel like this chapter became a bit of a mess on it's own anyways. Stopping where I did was probably best. Again, I apologize.

 

 

 

 

By the time Kyungsoo had woken up that morning Baekhyun was nowhere to be seen.

 

He had slept on the couch again, passed out halfway through the movie, on Kyungsoo’s shoulder. Trying to get off him without disturbing him was a challenge but he managed to pull it off without waking the man up.

 

Kyungsoo had slept in an hour later than he normally does, way too exhausted from the night before to want to follow his regular morning routine and waited until the very last minute to get ready and open up shop.

 

To his surprise, Baekhyun has left just as quietly as he did the first night Kyungsoo had let him stay, blankets folded on the couch, ready to be put away.

  


Kyungsoo didn’t miss the silence that he would be sitting through all day. He didn’t even open up when he got down stairs, instead getting his rent and deposit out of the safe and taking them to the bank. It isn’t like anyone would be waiting for him anyways.

 

Kyungsoo only prefers silence when it’s necessary, when it’s comfortable for him. During his operation hours, he hates it. Even the music he puts on in the shop doesn’t fill that gap that should be filled with what he heard last night. People talking, people enjoying themselves.

 

He wanted to thank Baekhyun way more than he did last night. He was able to pull off his entire objective without making Kyungsoo feel totally guilty in the end. It was in an honest way, memorable way, and he really wishes he wasn’t so awkward about it, but he’s thankful.

 

He really wishes he wasn’t so soft about it, either. Baekhyun was a stubborn CEO that knew how to get his way. Kyungsoo should not be okay with that. He shouldn’t be letting it grow on him like it has been for over a week now.

  


But it has grown on him. Baekhyun has grown on him, and Kyungsoo hates it. Counting the number of times he manages to get Kyungsoo to crack a smile and giving him stupid nicknames that fluster and frustrate him.

Baekhyun is a CEO, a clever CEO who is trying to find his way around with Kyungsoo for some reason other than what Kyungsoo thinks, and he hates that he’s making himself oblivious on purpose.

 

He hates that he’s allowing himself to stick around. Maybe it’s the lack of people he’s had in his life over the years that he’s sensitive to Baekhyun’s generosity. Maybe he’s genuinely interested in knowing more about the CEO, Kyungsoo can’t really pin it, he just knows that the next time Baekhyun mysteriously shows up at his door he isn’t going to close it on him, and he wants to hate that, but he can’t.

  


Kyungsoo made it home in time just as rain started to fall. He watches the open sign flicker to life in blue and red as he pulls chairs down from the table and straightens them up. He goes to the kitchen, moves to put away some stray pots that he doesn’t remember leaving out last night but pauses when he hears something clink from inside the metal.

 

His eyebrows press together and he tilts the pot to one side, hearing another small clink, then the other side, same thing. Kyungsoo slowly opens the lid as if something unearthly was about to jump out at him, and peeks inside.

 

It’s a box, with a small note attached.

 

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes as he picks up the box, puts the pot away, and stands up.

 

_“_

_I meant to give this to you_ _before_ _you made me become your unofficial waiter, so I’m leaving it here since I had to leave !_

_Please use it, I really can’t stand you with that ugly brick of a phone…_

 

 _\- Your favorite CEO !!! (Baekhyunnie_ _♡_ _) “_

 

Kyungsoo sighs and rolls his eyes, ripping off the note and sure enough, under the paper is a box with a company logo and a picture of a really nice, no doubt expensive smartphone.

 

Kyungsoo’s heart may have burst with happiness just a little as he cuts through the tape and pulls the box apart, revealing a sleek black cell phone, all for… Him. It feels wrong to hold it and turn it on, to marvel and take everything in.

 

It is wrong. He shouldn’t have said anything to Baekhyun about this, he should have just kept it to himself. This thing is like, top of the line, brand new tech and it’s in the poor hands of a restaurant owner whose life is literally falling apart in front of him.

 

Doesn’t he need to make payments on this thing? Unless Baekhyun bought it for full price, which he probably did, which makes Kyungsoo jump into his next move, and that’s doing an search on the thing and seeing the retail price, which he almost falls out of his chair when he sees it.

Stupid, this guy is totally insane and if Kyungsoo doesn’t manage to get to the bottom of his motive, he’s going to be the next to lose his mind. He can’t hate the CEO no matter how much he tries. Sure, Baekhyun hasn’t done anything to make Kyungsoo hate him, but he’s worming his way around and poking and prodding at all of Kyungsoo’s soft spots that it just makes him question what he may be up to in that charming- no, stupid head of his.

 

_To: CEO Bastard_

 

_1:30 P.M_

_ > I can’t believe you _

_  
_ _ > But I also shouldn’t be surprised by now. _

 

_ > …… Thank you… _

 

Kyungsoo didn’t even get a chance to set the phone down. An immediate response from Baekhyun pings, then another, and one more before Kyungsoo can even get a chance to read through the first one.

 

_1:30 P.M_

_MISTER ?????? < _

 

_You know I half expected you to burst into my office and raise hell on me for being nice and then throw that back into my face < _

 

_Claim your love for your cringey 2009 ….. Thing ….. < _

 

_Then leave. < _

_1:31 P.M_

_ >  That was one time. _

 

_ >  I know you’re pretty persistent. As if I’d have a chance anyways. _

  
  


Kyungsoo had just managed to finally save Baekhyun’s number into the smartphone. It took way longer than he expected it to because he was bombarded with texts from the CEO in the process. It turns out smartphones are way more complicated than he thought they were and by the time he moved onto his mother’s number and then Jongins, a half hour had passed.

 

He’s getting the hang of it. Tapping around and looking at the different apps. He takes it upon his curiosity to open up the news, since it something he only accesses from his computer, and blinks twice when he tries to read it.

 

Top headline:

 

_G-Light Media CEO Byun Baekhyun Found to Be Anonymous Donor of 10 Million Won to Local Children’s Orphanages_

 

Of course. Of course he donated ten million fucking Won to _multiple_ children’s orphanages. Of course this would be the first headline he sees when he opens the news. Baekhyun is everywhere now and he can’t hide from him.

 

Kyungsoo goes one step further, clicks on the article and reads it from top to bottom.

 

Everything starts to make sense as he reads through. Baekhyun was interviewed briefly on the situation and only said that it was a mission that meant a lot to him, and that he wants to be able to use his name for something good. It was a shock, honestly to see that Baekhyun used his own money to give back to something big like this. Almost like he’s tried to do it before…

 

Another search. He refrained from doing this for a long time because he never really thought the CEO would ever come back here after the night he showed up. He types in Baekhyun’s name in the search, hits enter, and is faced with a million different articles on G-Light itself and interviews with him as a CEO. Pictures and videos of him at conferences and shoots.

 

Articles dating back to a few years ago still talk about how Baekhyun made anonymous donations to charities that supported victims of abuse and helped kids grow and pursue careers in business, now top that with donating to children’s homes and Baekhyun makes out to be the opposite to what Kyungsoo had originally thought was a sleud, selfish, tricky CEO.

 

Kyungsoo is half tempted to ask about Baekhyun’s hefty donation but he keeps it to himself for another time. Chances are Baekhyun is bound to show up at the front of his restaurant sometime within the next few days for absolutely no reason to and Kyungsoo is bound to open up the door and call him an idiot for showing up, then follow up by telling him to come in.

  


Pretty soon, give or take a few months after all this paperwork goes through and he finishes with all the complicated stuff, he’s probably never going to be seeing Baekhyun again. Chances are, when Kyungsoo closes down, his memories, along with all of his connections will disappear too.

 

That’s a thought he knows he shouldn’t bear. Chances are he’ll still be in touch with everyone he’s met over the years that he’s been in business, but this place, all of his memories, his childhood, his entire life, will be gone.

 

Kyungsoo managed to go about his day looking for a new start. A new beginning, of sorts.

 

It’s not here, though. No where will ever be here. Kyungsoo hates that this part of him needs to grow up and finally come to terms with the fact that this was how it was supposed to be, that this was more than likely going to happen but he could never accept it.

 

Mostly because the mere idea that his family, especially his father, despite how long it’s been, would be disappointed in his attempt to try and run the place that he was so passionate about. Kyungsoo tried, and he kept trying, but now he doesn’t have a choice anymore.

 

His entire life, he waited for this moment, and only three years was he able to make it last. Three years and hardly any of what he thought would happen, did, and now he’s being forced to say goodbye to it all. All of his parents hard work and dedication and passion is about to be locked away to sink into the floorboards, ready to awaken with a different future.

Kyungsoo feels like a bad son. A disappointment, at the worst. All of his time he spent trying to make this place what it was when he was a kids was wasted because he spent too much of his time trying to recreate the nostalgia rather than trying to be creative and just change.

 

All he had to do was change. It’s a simple word that weighs such a heavy burden on his back. It’s something he’s never been accustomed to, something that he has never really committed to just because it’s never applied to his life. To him.

 

Now he’s looking for openings at restaurants where he can apply his skills and hopefully earn a decent living.

  


“You had quite the party here last night. I’m surprised.”

 

Go away.

 

Kyungsoo sends a glare over in the direction of that soft, yet shrilling voice. He quickly closes the tab of the job search page he’s on so Junmyeon can’t see and possibly give him hell for that on top of whatever else he’s about to lie on him.

 

“Either you eat or you leave.”

 

“I’m hurt.”

 

“Good. Now leave.”

 

“I can’t.” Junmyeon sings, “I actually have some stuff for you to sign for me. Get these back to me as soon as you can.”

 

Kyungsoo holds his gaze on the manila folder in Junmyeon’s hand before he sighs and takes it, “It’s just a few contracts confirming that you’ll be handing this building over to me in three months.”

 

“Wait what?” Kyungsoo drops the folder onto the table and looks back up at Junmyeon,”I thought we agreed on six?”

 

The man shakes his head, “Three, now. Considering the rate you’re falling, it’s best we finish this quickly. I’m going to have an evaluation done on the building next week to make sure it’s in good shape at no cost to you. The sooner we can get this over with, the easier it is for the two of us.”

 

Kyungsoo breathes a sigh as he slumps back in his chair. Tis was unbelievable. Junmyeon turned things around without him knowing and now he’s on an even shorter time limit to get things together.

 

“You’ve already submitted the legal stuff, now all that’s left-”

 

“I still have a debt to pay off. That was why I drew this out for so long.” Kyungsoo says quickly, hoping that there was some way to try and change the man’s mind. He knows he can’t, but that piece of him that denies the change in his life is screaming to say no, to try and change his mind.

 

“You ever consider filing for bankruptcy?” Junmyeon’s tone is sincere, making Kyungsoo shiver. “ I mean at this point, with the assets and everything, it would be your best option. Especially if you were considering starting fresh.”

 

Kyungsoo shakes his head, “I’ll sell the assets first. See where that goes, and then… Go from there. Chances of me starting fresh don’t seem likely.” Kyungsoo shrugs. He hates this. He hates talking business and law and technical terms. It’s all too confusing and messy to deal with. A tedious process that he doesn’t like to handle but if Junmyeon has cut his allotted time in half, he’ll really have no choice. Pretty soon his life will be back to talking with creditors and dealing with more paperwork.

 

Junmyeon is selfish. If he wants to play this way, so be it. Kyungsoo doesn’t know how much more of this he really can take anymore. Filing for bankruptcy was an option somewhere in his mind at some point. It was even one his mother suggested some time ago but the idea of having to file and go to court and deal with more frustrations doesn’t seem like it’d be taking any weight off of his shoulders.

 

But, it’s always an option.

 

“The inspection will be on Friday. I’ll take those then.” Junmyeon says, striding across the room and pausing as he opens the door, “Fair warning, depending on how the evaluation goes it will affect the offer I made originally to buy this place. I’d make sure everything was up to date until then, otherwise you might get below your asking price.” He waves and slips out the door leaving Kyungsoo to stare slack jaw at the empty space that Junmyeon was standing.

 

It’s a good thing he's started looking for new work.

 

  
  
  
  


\--- --- --- 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Kyungsoo would rather be dangling on the edge of a cliff than watch one single guy sniff around his restaurant with the sole purpose being to find something wrong. Kyungsoo knows that the equipment in this place is fairly new. His dad replaced it a few years ago, it wasn’t detrimental. His customers wouldn’t be breathing in natural gas or be leaving with food poisoning. Kyungsoo knows how to run a business, even if he did get the short end of it.

  


He’s had to repeat himself three times about the heating and cooling system. Then talk about the stoves and freezer. Hell, he even had to go over the last time he replaced the light bulbs. They’ve been going over the flooring, the wiring, the ventilation, the plumbing. It’s all just a very long question and answer that is wearing Kyungsoo’s patience to a thread.

 

Junmyeon had been standing off to the side the entire time, reviewing all of the work that Kyungsoo spent more than enough sleepless nights looking over and deciding upon.

 

He keeps having to remind himself he has no choice. That this is the only option he really has at this point and everything here isn’t worth trying to save.

 

He glances down at his phone for the time.

 

Kyungsoo hasn’t heard from Baekhyun in a week. At this point, it’s probably a good thing. Kyungsoo has been under way too much stress to deal with anyone. Much less a CEO who is really good at getting past his barriers.

 

He hurries to send a quick text to Jongin, telling him that this thing is probably going to go on for a while as the guy hasn’t even looked upstairs yet. THe younger sends back a sticker of a pouty bear. It’s all Jongin’s been sending to Kyungsoo ever since he learned he got a new phone. Endless bear stickers.

 

It’s another hour to go through the upstairs. Double checking to make sure it was rodent free and suitable for living. In that time Kyungsoo ended up receiving an entire text thread of pouty bears, to sad bears, to angry bears. He really doesn’t stop.

 

By the time the inspection was over, and Kyungsoo had been told by the man that he had passed, with only a few minor issues, he was left to hear out what Junmyeon had to say.

 

“I had no idea this place was in such good condition, Kyungsoo. You’ve really held this place together.” Junmyeon smiles. Kyungsoo looks around at the empty tables and chairs and nods, “Yeah. I tried.”

 

“I’ll go on to submit all this for review then. I’ll let you know when everything is finished.” Junmyeon says, clapping the smaller on the back and walking towards the door, leaving Kyungsoo to stand in silence.

 

It doesn’t really hit him until now. Looking at all of this when it’s quiet and he’s the only one here. He sees memories of his childhood, his youth in flashes as his eyes snac across the room. People sitting and laughing, his mother scurrying between tables and greeting families as they come inside. His father tripping over his own feet as he comes to say hello to neighbors and him, a smaller, scrawnier him, getting red in the face when his voice breaks in the middle of a sentence and walking way too slowly for only two bowls of ramen.

 

He can almost hear it. Everything he’s grown up with, all the people he’s come to know that have moved on with their lives, the sounds of chairs being pulled across the wood and the laughter and conversations from young people and elder couples.

 

They all moved on without hesitation.

 

Why can’t he?

  
  
  
  


It’s another week of silence. Jongin had come in from time to time, but not everyday like usual. He’s been in more of a rush to get out the past few days, Kyungsoo has suspected that work has started to get in the way, and didn’t question it.

 

It’s been a lot of playing games on his phone. All games that Jongin had showed him. A lot more of going through records of his assets, taxes, all of the dirty number stuff that he hates. A little bit of submitting his resume and applications to more restaurants, silently crossing his fingers that maybe he’ll hear something.

 

Kyungsoo has been going about this process strategically, but even so it still muddles his mind to go over. It’s times like this when he wishes he wasn’t doing this alone, but then again, he’d rather save anyone the trouble. God forbid anyone ever go through this.

  


He’s lost track of time again. He’s lost in what he’s reading. It’s dark out, late, his head keeps rolling off of his palm making him sit up suddenly. The air is cool from the rain falling outside the open window, the traffic all the way out here is minimal, so there isn’t a whole lot of noise, especially with how loud the rain is.

Kyungsoo hates how used to this life he’s gotten.

 

It’s a Friday night. People his age are out drinking and having meals together, going over their work week and complaining about little things while bitter shots of Soju make them mindlessly laugh.

  


Being alone has gotten old now. Maybe, if he wasn’t so busy doing everything in his life wrong, he wouldn’t have to worry. But instead, he did it backwards, thinking it was right, and now caused himself more harm than good.

 

Kyungsoo wishes he could crack open a bottle of Soju right about now. He wishes it would ignite his thoughts and make him forget about assets and investments and debts for a little while. It’d be better than cheap beer and a stack of papers.

  


It’s a lot to take in. Especially now that Junmyeon is making the decision, agreed upon by his landlord, and now himself, to cut his time in half. He knew Junmyeon had tricks up his sleeve, but he never thought it would be this. He never thought Junmyeon would turn things around on him like this. He doesn’t have any idea what Kyungsoo has personally fought with, how many years he truly has gone head to head with creditors and bankers and his landlord.

 

Kyungsoo exhausted now. Now that he’s given himself up. He doesn’t want to. The more he thinks about this the more is makes his heart ache in his chest. He curses himself endlessly for being so selfish. Fore never really thinking things through and for trying to keep things the same even though he knows they were going to change. That everything changed the day he had to say goodbye to his father. The same day that his mother told him that she couldn’t bear to walk into that place anymore.

 

The same day Kyungsoo said, “I’ll do it. Don’t worry.”

  


He doesn’t realize his phone vibrates off to the side. Kyungsoo stares mindlessly, thoughtless at the papers scattered beyond recognition along his desk. It’s when it starts ringing that he jolts up and goes to answer without thinking.

  


_“Kyung… Soo?”_ There’s a familiar grunt on the other end. A lot of background noise.

 

“Baekhyun?”

 

_“Did… Did you get my fuck- My text?”_

 

“Uhm… Hold on.” Kyungsoo says, holding his phone back to look at the text message he somehow never heard from Baekhyun. It was just a map with a pin. Kyungsoo has absolutely no idea what that means.

 

“What is this?” He asks, still staring at small mapped image.

 

There’s more shuffling, _“My location… Need you… Mh, to come here.”_ He grunts again. It’s strained, almost painful sounding.

 

“Did something happen?” Kyungsoo sits up a little straighter this time. He doesn’t sound right, but Kyungsoo doesn’t want to begin jumping to any conclusions.

 

 _“Hurry… Please.”_ He breathes, there’s a click, and Kyungsoo is cut off.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...... I hope this chapter was okay? I spent a big chunk of time trying to understand how the fuck small businesses work and it was a very frustrating journey and I'm still learning. Also, I'm sorry for angsty sad confused soo he's going thru it TM.
> 
> As always, comments are much appreciated, it makes me smile. Thank you for liking this mess of an update. I will see you soon!
> 
> Psst. I also have a [Twitter](https://twitter.com/shuaversum) if u wanna follow me and talk and stuff.


	6. 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ THIS!
> 
> *** Slight trigger warning later in the chapter for those who are squeamish around blood, or wounds!!!! *** 
> 
> That is all. Please enjoy! This is my fave chapter by far, also the longest!

 

  
  
  


 

Kyungsoo tries to call Baekhyun back, only to get past the first ring then get sent straight to Baekhyun’s voicemail. He tries a second time, then a third only to keep getting the same obnoxious voice greeting. He shouldn’t panic, but he does. 

 

If Baekhyun turns out to be in some kind of danger, which it sounds like he might be, he’ll have to call the police. It wouldn’t make sense for him not to be in some kind bad situation. The way his voice was strained and he kept grunting his answers as if he was physically struggling. It wouldn’t make sense for him not to be in need of some kind of help. 

 

Surely a quick call and an explanation wouldn’t hurt. It’s a long shot, but Kyungsoo doesn’t want to take any chances, especially if he turns out being right. Baekhyun never provided him with any explanation other than to hurry, and Kyungsoo struggles to make a haste decision. He’s never been one to panic like this, but Baekhyun’s voice ringing in the back of his head is what makes him continue to carry on  the conversation with the operator as he tries to give an explanation and provide Baekhyun’s location. 

 

Those same pleading whispers are what carries him out into the rain that he despises so much to the main roads for a cab. 

  
  
  


Pleasantly, Kyungsoo beat the police, and he’s almost glad he did until he gets out to investigate the empty, quiet road in front of him. It’s dark, even the faint glow of the  streetlights scattered down the road don’t do a lot of justice to illuminate the roads in the thick of the rain, which falls hard, making his umbrella quite useless. Kyungsoo tightens his grip around the handle and calls Baekhyun’s name as loud as he can, but receives no answer. 

 

He takes a few steps forward, digs his phone out of his pocket and turns the flashlight on, scanning it around to catch a glimpse of where Baekhyun last reached him. 

 

A faint shimmer catches the light, making Kyungsoo stop and backtrack, tracing his phone back to what caught his eye before. It shimmers faintly, a quick spark that flickers just through the haze of rain. He rips off his glasses, shoving them into his pocket as he wipes the water from his eyes and blinks, taking a few cautious steps towards the glimmer. 

 

His foot makes contact with it first, startling him. He reaches down to pick it up and freezes. 

 

It’s a shiny, black and red helmet. 

  
  


Very similar to the one Baekhyun wears. 

  
  


He shouts his name again but the rain doesn’t let his voice travel as far as he wants. Kyungsoo walks forward more, reaching the edge of the asphalt, where the road falls off into a low ditch and finds himself not thinking a second thought as he races towards the sad, dented motorcycle that sits near a streetlamp further down the road. 

 

Fucking idiot, Kyungsoo thinks. Riding out in the country on a night like this, what the fuck was he even thinking? 

 

He finds Baekhyun before he makes it to the wreck of his bike, curled up and almost lifeless looking when he gets up close. For a second Kyungsoo really thinks he’s dead, but he flips him over, gives him a good few pats against the side of his face and his eyes flutter open. 

 

“You take forever.” Baekhyun breathes. 

 

“What happened?” Kyungsoo is almost yelling and he can’t tell if it’s because of the rain or the frustration, or both. 

 

“What’s it look like.” Baekhyun groans weakly, eyes squeezing shut in pain as Kyungsoo pulls him up. 

 

“You’re so lucky I called the police. Otherwise-” He grunts as he sits Baekhyun up against a light pole, “We’d be fucked.”

 

“Oh boy,” Baekhyun’s voice is hoarse, and his smile is forced and pained, “We get to… Take a trip to the hospital.” 

 

It hurts to see this. It hurts to see Baekhyun the opposite of how he usually does.

“Shit, your head.” Kyungsoo mutters, he holds the umbrella tighter, his nails scrape against his palm and his knuckles ache from how tight he’s holding on to the thin metal pole. 

 

His fingers shakily reach out to push away the hair where a think line of blood begins to trickle down Baekhyun’s face. It’s a gash, not big, but still ugly looking, definitely enough for stitches. Baekhyun's head begins to slowly fall forward, his eyes close. 

 

“Hey, stay awake,” Kyungsoo’s hand falls to Baekhyun’s shoulder, gently shaking him back to consciousness, “They’re almost here, okay? Don’t fall asleep.”

 

Baekhyun’s head rolls to the side as the sound of sirens begins to close in on them, “Hey, come on,” Kyungsoo reaches his hand out to the side of Baekhyun’s face, gently pushing his head upright. His skin is hot to the touch, almost as if he’s starting to get a fever and Kyungsoo curses himself for not being quicker, as if he already didn’t practically yell at the cab driver to step on it and swear at the emergency operator that he thought his friend was hurt and to send an ambulance. 

 

Kyungsoo manages to keep Baekhyun’s attention on him as he waves down the flashing lights that flicker rapidly around them. Their headlights make Baekhyun squint and hide behind Kyungsoo for protection. His grip tightens around Kyungsoo’s windbreaker, pulling weakly for his attention. 

 

Car doors slam and there’s the rushing of footsteps and shouting behind him, “Please come with me.” Baekhyun pleads. Kyungsoo swears that even over the sudden rushing of sounds he hears a tremble in Baekhyun’s voice but nods anyways as he steps back to watch the professionals take over. 

 

It’s during this time frame that Kyungsoo takes a look at the mess across the road. Baekhyun’s bike is on the opposite side of the lane he was initially travelling down. Glass from the small windshield if scattered in shards across the pavement, likely to be the cause of the small wound on Baekhyun’s head. His bike lies in a ditch, dented and muddy on its side. 

 

He isn’t going to push Baekhyun about what happened yet. It could be worse. Baekhyun could be much bloodier, much more broken, much less alive. He’s thankful this isn’t as bad as it looks. Baekhyun must have caught his fall, had to have known something. There aren’t any tire marks on the road. There wasn’t another car, meaning it must have been just him. 

 

Kyungsoo chats briefly with the police as he watches Baekhyun carefully get loaded into the ambulance. Shows them the message that Baekhyun had sent to him, explains the phone call, told them everything he knew and soon enough he’s falling asleep alongside Baekhyun, propped up against the wall of the ambulance. 

 

He must have been too tired to notice the weak grip around his own fingers. 

  
  
  
  


Kyungsoo dozes as he waits for the doctor to finish checking Baekhyun. He had not imagined this is what his night would turn out to be, yet here he is. He’s exhausted. He’s been exhausted, Baekhyun just ran the rest of his energy from him yet Kyungsoo still tries to force himself to stay awake so he can go visit the CEO.

 

Kyungsoo slips his phone out and taps on a game Jongin forced him to download and play him on. It’ll keep him occupied for now, make him have something to do while he thinks about all of this. 

 

Baekhyun isn’t going to be in any trouble with his company, will he? Hopefully no media or news outlets have caught wind on any of this. Not that it’s a big deal, Baekhyun is going to be just fine, but it doesn’t sound like a fun time explaining the same thing to people who know nothing about you. Granted that’s virtually Baekhyun’s life day to day, people need their space sometimes. Baekhyun included. 

 

It’s not like there were a ton of people around, it was only them. Kyungsoo lives way too close to the outskirts of the city for their to have been any one to have so much as recognized them. There wasn’t a single soul in sight. But the thought crosses his mind that Baekhyun won’t be able to go into to work for at least a week. 

 

“Excuse me, sir? Are you here with Byun Baekhyun?”

 

Kyungsoo jumps at the sudden sound of a voice in front of him, then nearly falls to the floor when he recognizes the face. 

 

“Chanyeol?”

 

The taller male looks at him in confusion for a moment and suddenly beams, “You- The restaurant! The really good ramen! Jongin’s friend… Kyung… Kyungsoo?” He sputters, red faced in embarrassment from nearly having forgotten Kyungsoo’s name by now. 

 

Kyungsoo nods half-heartedly, “Yeah, that’s me.” 

 

“I uhm…  I had no idea you were you were this close to the CEO… I know Sehun is, but… Wow.” He breathes, hand reaching up to rub nervously at his neck. 

 

“I had no idea you were a doctor. I thought you worked at G-Light.” Kyungsoo huffs, trying to change the subject so he won’t have to explain the lengthy story of how he knows Baekhyun, if Baekhyun can even be considered a friend to him. Kyungsoo stands up slowly from his seat, ignoring the uncomfortable way his clothes shift because of the dampness. 

 

Chanyeol shakes his head, “Nurse,” He corrects, “Sehun and I are close friends. I just know a lot of the people he works with. Baekhyun is no stranger.”

 

“Speaking of,” Chanyeol clips, pulling out a clipboard from under his arm, “Baekhyun will be okay. He needed a few stitches in his head from some stray glass, he’s got some pretty bad road rash along his right side and his back which will need to be checked and tended to regularly, minor concussion from the impact, and few bumps and bruises. Nothing too major, luckily.”

 

Kyungsoo has to keep himself from visibly wincing, it still sounds awful despite this being considered a ‘minor’ injury, especially from a motorcycle. 

 

“You wouldn’t seem know what happened, do you?” Chanyeol asks, tucking his clipboard back under his arm as Kyungsoo shakes his head,

 

“He called me and said he needed help, texted me his location, and by the time I got there he was too out of it to tell me anything. It was a chore just to keep him awake.” 

 

Chanyeol hums, “Oh, speaking of,” He pulls his clipboard back out again, eyes narrow as he looks over closely it a second time, “He had a low fever when the paramedics checked him. Chances are he might have caught something after being stuck in the rain, which doesn’t happen unless he has a weak immune system. Make sure he takes some vitamins alongside his painkillers. I imagine keeping him well fed shouldn’t be an issue.” Chanyeol smirks, hitting Kyungsoo playfully on the arm with the back of his clipboard, 

 

“He’s asleep right now but he’s all yours. We’ll check on him tomorrow morning and see if he’s well enough to be discharged. Go get some rest.” Chanyeol says, smile warm against the plain white walls of the hallway. Kyungsoo watches him until he disappears around a corner. He has a lot of questions for that boy, but those can wait for another time. Kyungsoo takes a shallow breath inward as his fingers wrap around the cool metal handle of the door knob, he’s careful not to make any noise. 

  
  


The familiar beeping of heart monitors keeps Kyungsoo awake all night. The color of the lights is just sickening enough to make Kyungsoo keep himself awake. He’s way too familiar with these places, they never bring good memories. It’s just a constant reminder of who he’s lost and the trouble he’s caused up until now. 

 

There were a lot of scares, he remembers. A lot of times when they’d panic thinking something was wrong and somehow end up here, getting prescribed more medicine and then it’d get worse. They’d end up in these rooms more and more, to the point where his father wasn’t allowed to leave. At that point, he was already too far gone. 

 

All of the surgeries, all of the medicine, the therapy, constant sounds of heart monitors and oxygen machines, the doctors muttering about how they’re doing what they can. All of the words that Kyungsoo tried to say confidently, proudly as a son, only fell in short trembling sentences because he was too afraid to admit that he can’t do this job alone.

 

The last words that he whispered while holding onto the last remains of life in his father’s hand that day four years ago. It was raining that day, too. Kyungsoo hates the rain now, just as much as he hates hospitals. The eeriness of it all, the way his voice gets lost among everything, the endlessness of it. He hates it. 

 

Maybe it’s the exhaustion, maybe it’s these places altogether, the longer Kyungsoo sits here, the more he feels his frustration building up. 

 

Baekhyun stirs in his sleep, mumbling and whining every so often, forcing Kyungsoo out of his own thoughts. He really wishes he could be sleeping as comfortably as Baekhyun right now. His clothes stick uncomfortably to his body, he’s cold, the rain in his clothes makes him smell damp and musty. He should have asked if there was something he could change into but he feels it’s too late now. He’ll suffer for a few more hours. 

 

Kyungsoo leans back into the stiff plastic of the armchair, trying to make himself comfortable as he tries to force himself to go to sleep. He stares up at the ceiling trying to plan out what he’s going to say once Baekhyun finally starts to come around. As soon as Baekhyun wakes up, Kyungsoo is not holding back. Baekhyun had no reason to be out on a night like this. He had no reason to go that far in a storm like this. He had no reason to be doing any of this tonight, and he did anyways.

 

Blow off some steam or not, Kyungsoo isn’t taking any of his shit. He isn’t going to let Baekhyun slip through so easily when he easily could have gotten himself killed. Not only that, but now he’s going to have to keep Baekhyun taken care of on top of running his own business, which, is literally impossible. 

 

In matters like this, it’s one or the other. Kyungsoo falls asleep before choosing the obvious.

  
  
  
  
  
  


 

\--- --- --- 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


 

When he wakes up, his neck is sore, so are his eyes, Kyungsoo has no idea what time it is, and for a moment, he nearly forgets where he is. 

 

Baekhyun is sitting up, quietly looking over something on his phone, which is plugged into a charger that Kyungsoo doesn’t have the energy to ask about. He glances over when Kyungsoo stretches, and greets him with a smile,

 

“Sleep well?” 

 

Kyungsoo groans in response and rubs at his eyes. He blinks a few times to let his eyes adjust to the light white light of the room and catches the thin blanket that’s draped lazily across his shoulders. He looks back up at Baekhyun in question and the male looks at him knowingly, 

 

“You didn’t seem comfortable, it was the least I could do.” The CEO smiles bashedly, letting his hands fall into his lap. Baekhyun still looks exhausted. The longer Kyungsoo looks at him the more he notices. His forearm is all wrapped up in gauze, his lip is split, there are scabs and bruises all over him. 

 

Kyungsoo shakes his head, “I feel fine. I’m more concerned about you. What even-”

 

“Pfft, please” Baekhyun flicks his hand to dismissively, cutting Kyungsoo off before he can ask what happened. Baekhyun is acting as if there isn’t a giant square of gauze taped to his head with a large purple bruise along his cheek bone, “I’ll be okay. They’re getting all my stuff together, I already signed the discharge papers, we’ll leave soon.”

 

He had this all worked out in his head, dammit. Kyungsoo shrugs the blanket off and scoots the chair closer to Baekhyun’s bedside, “What the fuck were you doing out there last night?” He asks, voice low to keep his cursing heard from anyone outside, “Are you aware you were  _ this  _ fucking close to getting yourself killed? Are you insane?”

 

Baekhyun stares back at Kyungsoo in shock for a moment. He blinks a few times as he tries to come up with an answer but he looks away. 

 

“Why the hell did you decide to call me? Why wasn’t your instinct to call for help? If I didn’t answer my phone, if something worse had happened to you, then what would you have done? Just lay there and suffer? Die?” Kyungsoo’s frustration builds right back up the more he talks. The way Baekhyun just stares down and fumbles with his phone like a child makes Kyungsoo almost feel bad, but then once he thinks back to how much worse this could have been, he doesn’t regret it. Baekhyun was reckless and doesn’t seem to care that he could have faced life changing consequences. 

 

“Do you remember what happened? The roads shouldn’t have been too slick it only rained a few weeks ago.” Kyungsoo sighs, sits back in his chair and watches Baekhyun continue to fumble with his phone silently.

 

He doesn’t respond. He stays silent until a couple knocks sound at the door and a familiar face appears. Chanyeol is still here, though much more tired looking. He has a small bag that he sets down on Baekhyun’s bed, most likely his clothes. 

 

“Doc says you’re all set. Prescriptions are filled and should be ready by this afternoon. You can get changed and check out at the front desk. Get some rest, you need it.” He says, waves to Kyungsoo, and heads out of the room leaving the two back in another tense, shared silence. 

 

“I already called us a taxi… I’ll… Be right back.” Baekhyun mutters, shifting slowly, carefully pushing the covers off as he stands from the bed. 

 

“I’ll be outside.” Kyungsoo mutters, leaving Baekhyun to take his time as he strides out of the room and waits in the hallway. He tries to check his phone, but it’s dead. His eyes hurt because he’s been straining to see without his glasses, since last night. He keeps rolling his neck to try and ease the stiffness, he wants to get changed and longs desperately for a shower, some food, and to be away from this place. 

 

He glances up at the clock on the wall and is surprised to see how early it is. It isn’t even noon yet. At this time, Kyungsoo would just be opening up the shop after having cleaned and prep all morning. It took a week for his routine to nearly flip flop, all thanks to the limping loudmouth that comes shuffling out of the room in front of him. 

 

Baekhyun is still quiet except for the times he gives his name and info to the receptionist at the check out. He still looks tired and doesn’t sound how Kyungsoo is used to him normally sounding, but he watches silently as Baekhyun is cleared and they walk slowly outside. 

 

“I hope you don’t mind,” Baekhyun speaks up finally as they walk through the sliding doors and into the cool air, “I… Called a cab to my place. I’ll make sure they get you home too though. You need to open up your shop.”

 

“What, and leave you alone to fend for yourself? Nice try.” Kyungsoo may not be close with Baekhyun, but there is no way he’s going to let Baekhyun, injured, sick, and a little disoriented, stay home alone. He can tell it hurts the male to walk, it probably even hurts him just to breathe. 

 

“I’m okay, I just-” 

 

Kyungsoo cuts him off before he can try and defend himself any further, “I’m shutting down anyways. I’m pretty sure staying closed for a few days isn’t going to be the end of the world for me.”

 

In any other case, the words that just left Kyungsoo’s mouth would never apply to anyone except close family. Baekhyun is another case, for him to say that so easily, especially when he’s kept his restaurant open under nearly every circumstance besides being contagiously ill, is very rare for him. He doesn’t let himself be so open around people he’s just met. It took him months to open up to Jongin when he first met him, Baekhyun is a strange exception that he’s still trying to pin down.  

 

“No, really, don’t let me get in the way of your business.”

 

“You get free meals out of this. I get not having to deal with Junmyeon’s bullshit or staring out of a window nine hours. Trust me,” Kyungsoo opens the door of the car he had followed Baekhyun to, “You aren’t being a burden.”

 

Baekhyun stares at him from over the door of the car. His eyes look apologetic, sorrowful, but also confused, as if it was the first time he’s ever heard Kyungsoo speak before. He tears his gaze away slowly ducks into the car, letting Kyungsoo follow behind. 

 

Baekhyun is in and out of it on the way back home. He falls over onto Kyungsoo’s shoulder, then jolts back up trying to keep himself awake. He’s probably still groggy from the medicine, Kyungsoo lets him. It isn’t like this is the first time he’s done this. 

 

Baekhyun jolts back upright again, and shifts around in his seat awkwardly. Kyungsoo keeps his attention to the passing scenery outside the window. It feels oddly familiar, they’re definitely reaching the edge of the city, and Kyungsoo is a little unsure for a moment. 

 

“Hold on… Do you live all the way out here? You told me you lived in the city.”

 

Baekhyun turns to look at him, a small smirk on his face, “Oh, really?” He chuckles nervously, “Yeah, uhm… The little country boy likes his space.”

 

“Wait… You aren’t from Seoul?” Kyungsoo voice rises in disbelief and his eyes grow in shock. 

 

Baekhyun shakes his head, tired smile on his face, “Nope. I’m a little farmer boy from a tiny rice town called Apo.”

 

Kyungsoo scoffs in disbelief, glancing out his window again. They’re entering a rich neighborhood now, the houses growing increasingly more modern in architecture. The trees outside might as well be sprouting money. 

 

To think Baekhyun is from the country is such a strange concept. Never would Kyungsoo suspect that Baekhyun, a large, growing company CEO who is dazzling and growing increasingly more successful day by day, would be from the countryside. Kyungsoo is having a very hard time wrapping his head around what Baekhyun insists is a fact. 

 

“Oh, that’s me.” He points out of Kyungsoo’s window to a large, black gate, only a little bit of the house can be seen from behind it at this angle, meaning it’s probably pretty big. He’s able to press in the gate code and when the gate slides open to provide a view, Kyungsoo’s jaw drops. 

 

It’s a modern style house. Big, but not near enough to be considered a mansion. Sturdy gray concrete exterior, big windows, the whole place is closed in, meaning that there’s absolutely no need to even draw the curtains closed, since no one can see, so much as climb inside. The courtyard is big, not huge, but there’s certainly more than enough space for Baekhyun. 

 

Kyungsoo helps Baekhyun out of the car and follows him up to the door. Baekhyun carefully enters the pin and a cute welcoming chime sounds as the lock clicks. Once they step in, and Kyungsoo gets a look around he feels swallowed. His house is a lot bigger than it looks on the inside. It’s spacious, minimal decoration and neutral tones all the way through to make it feel open, but also very Baekhyun in a way that Kyungsoo can’t explain. It just fits his style, somehow. 

 

Kyungsoo makes sure Baekhyun is comfortably situated on his couch because he said the stairs felt like too much of a hassle. Even after insisting a million times that he was fine, Kyungsoo makes sure he has water, checks his temperature just to be safe, which has barely lowered since last night. And double, triple checks if he’s hungry at the moment, which he says, again and again, that he isn’t. Just tired, and Kyungsoo silently agrees. 

 

“If you don’t eat now, you that means I’ll just make you eat more later right?” Kyungsoo asks, watching as Baekhyun picks up a small remote from his bedside table and turns on the television. 

 

“Fine, whatever.” He sighs, “You’re so lucky I’m a sucker for good food.” He sets the remote back down and glances up at Kyungsoo. He hesitates for a moment, looking like there’s something he wants to ask, and it takes a few seconds for it to fall out of his mouth, 

 

“So… Does this mean you’re staying?”

 

Kyungsoo has to think about it for minute. What Baekhyun means in ‘staying’, and finally shakes his head, “For dinner,” He starts, “Besides, we still need to get your meds and change your bandages. But I have some stuff to take care of tonight, I would also really like to shower.”

 

Baekhyun hums, “Yeah, you smell kinda weird.” 

  
  


“Go ahead.” He continues, “It’s not like I’m going anywhere.”

 

Kyungsoo nods, tells Baekhyun to contact him if there’s anything wrong or if there’s anything he needs, and not to spam him just because he’s bored. Baekhyun reminds him to scope out the kitchen because he doesn’t remember if, when, or what groceries he had gotten delivered. 

  
Baekhyun’s kitchen is empty of anything fresh. It’s packed with instant foods. Kyungsoo might as well bring over his entire refrigerator and then some so Baekhyun won’t be living off of junk while he’s healing. It’ll put his kitchen to use, along with the stuff he bought at the market last week that’s just been sitting in his cooler waiting to be put to use. 

 

Kyungsoo decides to take advantage of the morning weather and walks to the train station, takes it all the way back to a setting that is finally more familiar, and walks all the way back home.

 

Everything is the same as he had left it last night. Personal documents that rattle his mind and make him wince a little harder than usual sit abandoned on his desk. He slips them into the drawer and turns off the desk lamp he left on. He finally charges his phone, and turns it onto get a long thread of text messages from Jongin. 

 

_ From: Jongnini _

 

_ 11:45 P.M _

 

_ >  What happened??? _

 

_ >  I just got a text from Chanyeol saying you’re at the hospital???? _

 

_ >  Hyung did you get hurt????? _

 

_ >  Is your mom okay? Did something happen????? _

 

_ >  Hyung please answer _

 

_ >  I’m scared _

  
  


_ 12:00 A.M _

 

_ >  Channie says it’s Baekhyun…. Please be okay _

 

_ 12:02 A.M _

 

_ >  Please call me _

  
  


Poor Jongin was clearly terrified. He even tried to call Kyungsoo a handful of times and left some really panicked voicemails in response to the situation. Kyungsoo might as well call him back, he deserves an explanation. 

 

_ “Oh my god, Hyung? Are you okay? What happened?”  _ Jongin’s voice is asleep, but his mind certainly isn’t. He sounds wide awake when he answers the phone.

 

“Calm down. I’m fine,” Kyungsoo chuckles, “Baekhyun had an accident on his motorcycle last night, I had to get him to the hospital.”

 

“Also,” Kyungsoo continues, “Chanyeol is nurse? Why the fuck did no one tell me about this, I thought he worked at G-Light.” 

 

_ “Yeah, I thought you knew already.” _ Jongin laughs sleepily.  _ “Man, that blows, though.” _ His tone is more serious this time,  _ “Did he say how it happened?” _

 

Kyungsoo falls back onto his bed, staring at the ceiling, “No, I can’t tell if he genuinely knows or not. I scolded him this morning and he just looked lost and confused the entire time. Like a kicked puppy or something.”

 

Jongin goes quiet for a moment, probably trying to take everything in, then he speaks up quietly, 

_ “So… What are you gonna do? I mean, are you gonna take care of him?” _ There’s a hint of excitement at the end Jongin’s question that makes Kyungsoo roll his eyes. 

“Yeah,” He sighs, “As far as I know no one else really knows about this. I don’t want to take the chance of some stranger spreading it around.”

 

_ “This means… You’ll be… Closed?”  _ Jongin pauses in between words almost as if he’s having a hard time comprehending. 

 

“I can only do one or the other. Not like it’ll matter anyways.” Kyungsoo shrugs.

 

_ “You’re staying… Closed… To take care of… Wow…”  _ Jongin is mostly marvelling his thoughts out loud now. Kyungsoo lets him. 

 

_ “Such a nice Hyung. Why the hell have you never done that for me?” _ He whines. 

 

“From the looks of it you won’t need me anymore, anyways, now that you have your own personal nurse and all.” Kyungsoo laughs, telling Jongin he needs to finish some stuff before the younger can keep up his whining. 

 

He gets a quick shower, throws last night’s clothes into the wash, gets some food into his system. Within an hour he feels a little more human. He checks his place one last time to make sure there isn’t anything else he might have forgotten as he shuts his door. As if one que, his phone vibrates with a text from Baekhyun.

 

_ From: CEO Bastard _

 

_ 10:06 A.M _

 

_ >  Am I supposed to tell you when my prescription is ready _

 

_ >  because it is _

 

_ > wait I’ll get it delivered dont worry abt it _

 

_?????  < _

 

_ You didnt even tell me where it was how do you I wont be nearby  < _

 

_ 10:07 A.M _

 

_ send me the address before you do something stupid  < _

  
  
  


There’s a couple of minutes in between before Kyungsoo gets a text back. The place it’s ready at is in the area Kyungsoo gets off the train. It won’t take that long, Baekhyun is just overthinking it. 

 

Kyungsoo plans carefully what to bring for dinner just for tonight. The rest he can make in his own kitchen and then bring tomorrow. He has way too many ideas, too many things he wants to try his hand at because he doesn’t get to cook for people often like this. 

 

It’s only early afternoon by the time he makes it back to Baekhyun’s place. It takes him a minute to find it, a lot of these places look too similar for him to make out any key differences and he has to send a text of shame to Baekhyun who he can feel smirking through the phone when he texts him back.

 

He has to spend the rest of his day with this guy. 

  
  
  
  
  


 

\--- --- --- 

  
  
  
  
  
  


 

 

Maybe he exaggerated. It wasn’t that bad. Mostly because Baekhyun was asleep a majority of the time, even when he was awake he rambled a lot about topics Kyungsoo doesn’t remember. He kept jumping from topic to topic and Kyungsoo finally got the idea that maybe he was trying to fill the somewhat awkward silence. 

 

Kyungsoo made his best effort not to be too invasive of Baekhyun’s space, but also wanted to make sure Baekhyun was well taken care of. Finally the time came around when Kyungsoo had almost literally pull Baekhyun from the couch because they had to let his wounds get some air and change him into fresh bandages. 

 

This was going to be hell for both ends. Baekhyun, mostly, but they had to do this. Kyungsoo had to make the journey to Baekhyun’s room and spent way too long trying to find a change of clothes. Everything looked the same, Baekhyun has way too many clothes, and he finally have up and just pulled out the first thing he could find.

 

“Are these okay? Everything in your closet looks exactly the same.” Kyungsoo holds up the t-shirt and shorts he managed to find and Baekhyun stares at them for a minute before shaking his head. 

 

“You serious? That shirt is from Acne Studios I paid almost two hundred-thousand won for it.” Baekhyun points. 

 

“It’s literally just a white piece of fabric. How did you even know what brand this was?” Kyungsoo deadpans. Nothing about this should be so expensive, besides the fact it’s really, really soft. But if this messy, it will have been Kyungsoo’s fault and he would have just wasted all that money.

 

“It’s my expensive white piece of fabric.” Baekhyun jested, “You have taste, that’s probably one of the more pricey t-shirts I own honestly.” Baekhyun chuckles. 

 

“Oh my god.” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and is about to turn around to go back up and find something else, but Baekhyun calls him to stop, “Hey, I didn’t say I wouldn’t wear it. What’s the worst that can happen?”

 

Kyungsoo keeps his back turned for a little longer until he finally gives in and walks back towards Baekhyun, tossing the clothes to him about halfway before he reaches him. Baekhyun watches them fall next to him, then looks back up at Kyungsoo. 

  
“So, Mister, how long is this gonna take?” He asks, carefully shifting of the couch and grabbing the hem of the dirtied t-shirt he has on. 

 

“Depends on how well you act.” Kyungsoo says, pulling out all of the medical supplies that he had to buy at the drugstore (Baekhyun didn’t have any, surprise) and laying them on the coffee table. 

 

Baekhyun winces as he raises his arms, letting go of his shirt and dropping his arms back down. 

 

Oh fuck. 

 

Kyungsoo pretends not to notice as Baekhyun tries again, but doesn’t make it much further and he hisses and lets  go. 

 

“Need help?” He asks, trying to sound like this wasn’t a big deal. Because it isn’t. 

 

“Uhm…” Baekhyun is about to try again and Kyungsoo can’t take the sight of him struggling much longer. He stands up and moves a little closer to Baekhyun, who refused to make eye contact. 

 

“Hold your arms up as far as you can go. Don’t force yourself.” He says, watching Baekhyun nod and slowly raise his up, . It wasn’t very far, meaning Baekhyun must be in more pain than Kyungsoo had originally thought. 

 

“Okay, just… Stay still.” Kyungsoo hesitates as he tries to find a piece of fabric to grab onto. He’s probably making this more awkward than it should be. Just grab the shirt and pull it, Kyungsoo. 

 

He takes his shirt by where it sits over his shoulders, pulling it up gently and hooking his fingers under the neckline, and tugs it up and over Baekhyun’s head. He doesn’t tell him to, Kyungsoo just carefully positions Baekhyun’s arms out instead of up, and thankfully the male doesn’t seem to mind too much. One more tug and the shirt is gone, leaving Baekhyun sitting awkwardly with gauze wrapped around almost his whole torso. 

 

Kyungsoo takes a seat next to him and starts at the arm, Baekhyun pulls away about three different times because the gauze stuck to his skin. Then he begins to make his way back to his shoulder. Kyungsoo can’t help but to glance back at his forearm, all red and pink from where the skin tore away, leaving the wound fresh and exposed. If this is just what his arm looks like, Kyungsoo can’t imagine how bad the rest is. 

 

“So,” Kyungsoo cuts the tension between them as he carefully begins to take off the bandages around Baekhyun’s shoulder, “What happened?” He tries to ask again, hoping Baekhyun will provide him with some kind of answer this time. 

 

“I don’t remember.” Baekhyun admits honestly, hissing as Kyungsoo tries his best to be as careful as possible while slowly pulling the gauze back. 

 

“I left here, and then I woke up in the hospital. I don’t remember  _ how  _ it happened.” 

It could be the concussion, he thinks. Chanyeol mentioned something about him possibly forgetting certain events. 

Baekhyun truly could have forgotten everything that happened. It sounds like he’s tired of trying to remember, like he’s done so a million times already. Kyungsoo won’t push. Not if he genuinely doesn’t remember. 

 

“Care to fill me in then?” Baekhyun winces at the end of the question, gritting his teeth as he pulls away from Kyungsoo, making a bandage rip harshly over the sensitive area of his skin. Kyungsoo immediately lets go to let Baekhyun recover for a few seconds, this is way worse than he anticipated.

 

“You sent me your location, and asked me to come help you. By the time I got there, you were laying halfway off the side of the road, and your bike was in a ditch, glass was everywhere, and there was a torrential downpour.” Kyungsoo uses two fingers to push under Baekhyun’s elbow to move his arm out of the way as he continues again. The CEO doesn’t speak for a few seconds, just hisses and swears in pain.

 

“I wish I knew, really.” Baekhyun sighs, “I only remember anything starting from when I woke up last night.”

 

“You were awake last night?” Kyungsoo asks, pausing to look up at Baekhyun, who eyes are focused on the TV and nods, “Yeah, I saw you.” He answers, glancing over. 

 

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Kyungsoo’s fingers loosen their grip around the bandage he was working on and stares at Baekhyun, whose lips jutt into a pout,

 

“You looked really sad. Or scared… Both? I’ve never seen you look like that.” He looks back at the drama on TV, “I don’t think you like hospitals very much, Kyungja.”

 

Kyungsoo breathes an annoyed sigh as he continues back on his work, he’s finally finishing up Baekhyun’s shoulder, and carefully moves down to his side. It just keeps getting worse. 

 

“Everyone hates hospitals.” Baekhyun starts suddenly, “You had that look in your eyes though, like you suddenly remembered the details of a really bad nightmare. Expect, that nightmare was your memories... And those events were real.”

 

“Wow, poetic.” Kyungsoo deadpans, tugging particularly hard as he starts on Baekhyun’s side, making him wince and pull himself back. Kyungsoo doesn’t want to talk about this. Not with someone he still barely knows. 

 

“Ow! Hey, what’s wrong?” Baekhyun looks at Kyungsoo with a trace of concern, Kyungsoo stares back with none, “Nothing.” He pulls Baekhyun back to where he was, and picks up where he left off, still stopping everytime Baekhyun pulls or hisses in pain. 

 

“Sorry,” Baekhyun mutters, watching Kyungsoo pick up the new bandages and treatment from the table, “You should’ve just told me shut up.” He giggles. 

 

“Why would I do that?” Kyungsoo finally looks up at him, Baekhyun looks away and shrugs, “Minseok does it all the time. Jongdae on occasion, but that’s only because he’s nearly as bad as I am when it comes to shutting up.”

 

“Don’t apologize.” Kyungsoo opens the box of antibiotic ointment and tosses the empty contents back on the table , and cracks open the tube, “I just… It isn’t something I talk about openly.” 

 

Baekhyun glances back over to Kyungsoo, smiles warmly, “I get it.” He says, “We all have our own trauma.”

 

Kyungsoo only nods as he opens the new bandages. These ones are more rubbery so they won’t stick to his skin so painfully. He really needs to pay Baekhyun back for this new smartphone. It’s been a godsend. 

 

Baekhyun tries to keep himself composed when Kyungsoo rubs in the antibiotics. He watches Baekhyun’s fists clench tightly in attempt to handle the sudden sting. There’s no telling how much it hurts, Kyungsoo can’t imagine what it must feel like, so he tries to work diligently to keep him from suffering for much longer. 

 

Baekhyun tried to keep his attention focused on the drama. Kyungsoo keeps his attention focused on Baekhyun. 

 

Kyungsoo might have stared a little too long trying to figure it out. This, he realizes, is the first time he’s ever seen Baekhyun look not like the Baekhyun he’s used to seeing. 

 

Kyungsoo is used to seeing CEO Byun Baekhyun of G-Light Media. All dressed up in nice suits, usually dark colors, hair pulled back and parted, expensive watch, and such. He looks totally different now sitting in front of him as just Baekhyun. His hair is messy and it falls over his eyes, his features are softer, more round and less pronounced, he looks smaller, somehow. Kyungsoo wonders if this side of him is something he hides more for the sake of his public image. Either way, it’s… Cute, in a Baekhyun sort of way. 

 

It was another couple of minutes of silently working, Kyungsoo only telling Baekhyun every now and then that they were almost done.

 

Baekhyun seemed way to invested in the drama on TV to really care at that point, which was better on Kyungsoo’s part because it allowed him to finish up more efficiently. Everything looked nasty and Baekhyun was bruised and scraped all over. He really hopes this won’t end up scarring and that Baekhyun is going to heal quickly. 

 

“Okay,” He says, “You should go change. I have to start on dinner.”

 

Baekhyun perks up at the mention of food and turns to Kyungsoo bright eyed, “What’s on the menu, chef?”

 

“Dak Kalguksu.” Kyungsoo stands up and walks back to Baekhyun’s kitchen. For someone who doesn’t seem to use the stove very often, Baekhyun has an insanely nice kitchen, and nice materials along with it. From the pots and pans down to the cutlery, all of it is well made.

 

Baekhyun disappears down a hall Kyungsoo didn’t even know existed and comes back within a few minutes dressed in fresh clothes, “You know what I realized?” Baekhyun limps into the kitchen and takes a seat on a barstool at the island, “Showering is gonna fucking suck.”

 

“Yeah, what’d you expect?” Kyungsoo smiles, opening the refrigerator and pulling out everything he brought over and laying it all out on the counter. Baekhyun groans and goes quiet, resting his chin on his palm as he watches Kyungsoo set a pot of water on the stove. 

 

“Hey, turn around and to your… Left? No, right. There should be a wine cabinet somewhere.”

 

Kyungsoo does as directed. Baekhyun has his directions all turned around, it was to his left, Baekhyun’s right. 

 

“Get two glasses and your choice of whatever.” He says, letting Kyungsoo marvel over a few bottles of what he expects to be, nearly priceless wine. 

 

He grabs the first bottle he sees, if they all belong to Baekhyun, chances are he’s tried them all, therefore has no room to complain. Not to mention, he gave Kyungsoo the choice in the matter. He has no idea if it’s okay for Baekhyun to even be drinking, but surely a little wine won’t kill him. He sets the glasses down in front of Baekhyun, and cracks open the bottle to pour each of them a glass. 

 

“Cheers to… Me being alive, I guess?” Baekhyun raises his glass, a few inches from the counter, “Oh, and to Kyungja, who is endlessly talented at everything.” He smiles, patiently holding his glass out waiting for Kyungsoo to partake. 

 

“Cheers… I guess.” Kyungsoo holds his glass out and lets it collide with a sharp clink against Baekhyun’s and they both take a drink. It’s been so long since Kyungsoo had really good wine. A couple years, maybe. Whenever the last date he went on with someone was. 

 

Kyungsoo turns back around, continues with his with what he was doing previously, back turned to Baekhyun, who is humming behind him. 

 

“So… How far does your cooking expertise extend? You seem to know a lot.” Baekhyun chirps from behind him. Kyungsoo hums out loud, thinking, “I don’t know, honestly. A lot of Korean dishes and some Japanese.”

 

“Besides ramen, what other fine Japanese cuisines are you  _ definitely  _ capable of making?” Baekhyun asks. Kyungsoo stops chopping and turns around to look at Baekhyun, 

 

“Is this your way of suggesting me to make you something? You don’t like Kalguksu, do you?” Kyungsoo panics for a moment. Baekhyun never properly responded to what Kyungsoo said he was making. He figured that the bland taste of it would help keep Baekhyun sated for tonight just in case his fever might get worse or some other symptoms arise.

 

“What? No, I do. I was absolutely suggesting you to make me something, though. I mean… If you don’t mind.”

  
“Consider this my way of properly saying thank you for the phone since I haven’t heard from you in two weeks. As if I wasn’t already wor-” Kyungsoo stops himself before he can say anything else and turns back around to finally start chopping vegetables. Kyungsoo doesn not plan on giving Baekhyun a confidence boost when he’s in the state he is. He doesn’t deserve it. 

 

Baekhyun gets quiet for a moment, ingesting the sudden snap back from Kyungsoo. 

“Work got caught up with me. I guess I should’ve said something. It’s been nonstop with new projects the last few weeks. I’ve hardly even had time to sleep.” Baekhyun takes a sip from his glass and leans back into the barstool chair,

“I guess last night I was too frustrated, too tired. I’m sorry I worried you, really.”

 

Kyungsoo glances at the CEO over his shoulder. He looks sorry, but Kyungsoo doesn’t want to accept it so easily in case Baekhyun ever decides to get reckless again. 

 

“You need to make sure you’re thinking before you go out and nearly get yourself killed. Especially if work gets that bad.” Kyungsoo turns back to take some of the ingredients he chopped up and adds them to the pot, along with a small chicken. He turns back around and leans against the island across from Baekhyun, who stares at him over his wine glass. 

 

“Besides, I don’t like sitting on the idea that you always somehow manage to find your way to me when it rains, or when your life is in potential danger. I told you this morning, I’m not always gonna be there to help you. Either get a grip, and remember you’re a CEO of a growing corporation whose leadership is greatly needed or-” Kyungsoo cuts himself off from saying anything else that he might regret.

 

“Or what?” Baekhyun raises an eyebrow and slowly sets his glass back down. 

 

“Nevermind.” Kyungsoo pushes himself back and moves onto the next step. 

 

“You sure do hate talking.” Baekhyun says, “It seems like anything I ask you, you change the subject to something that doesn’t somehow relate to you in anyway.”

 

“I don’t like sharing my personal life with people I barely know. What does that have to do with anything?” Kyungsoo starts opening random cabinets in search for a bowl, Baekhyun directs him.

 

“You’re really blind, Mister.” Baekhyun chuckles, “What the hell do you think I’ve been trying to do this whole time?”

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t pay him any mind. He continues scooping flour into the bowl, acting like he doesn’t hear a word coming from Baekhyun behind him. 

 

“You should learn to appreciate the people who appreciate you.” He says.

 

Water. Add water, don’t respond to the fact that Baekhyun just called him out. Add the water. 

 

He’s never heard Baekhyun speak like this since they met. He’s always so easy going comfortable to talk with, but somehow he’s managed to read Kyungsoo like an open book. Has he been doing this? Observing Kyungsoo and finding all the weaknesses that he managed to let slip by and held onto them for a moment like this to present itself? 

 

Baekhyun is brutally honest. Mental note. 

 

Kyungsoo barely has any idea why he does any of the things he has himself. Whatever it is that makes him gravitate towards Baekhyun. Whatever it is about Baekhyun that makes Kyungsoo so comfortable in a way he can’t really describe. How he somehow has managed to flip Kyungsoo’s life around within not even a week of meeting. Kyungsoo truly wants to despise it, to despise him, but he can’t. 

 

Kyungsoo starts kneading the dough for the noodles. 

 

Baekhyun… Appreciates him… 

 

Kyungsoo feels like he’s spent all day trying to wrap his head around some of the stuff Baekhyun has said to him. Not only that but the way Baekhyun acts in general. He can’t get that scared look Baekhyun had out of his head when he told him that he wasn’t being a burden to Kyungsoo. 

 

Kyungsoo puts plastic wrap over the dough, sets it somewhere else to let it rise, keeps his eyes off of Baekhyun, who he can feel staring him down, and begins pulling out new vegetables to begin slicing. 

 

The idea of someone wanting to genuinely understand him, get to know him, shouldn’t be so foreign to Kyungsoo. In fact, it isn’t. It’s the fact that it’s Baekhyun. And for some reason that makes Kyungsoo want to hold back more than usual. He already isn’t comfortable with sharing certain personal details about his life with people he does know, Baekhyun is no exception. 

 

The silence settles among the two of them as Kyungsoo continues working. The only white noise filling the shared space is the TV playing in the living room. It’s not tense, there is nothing awkward about it despite the two having a small moment. It’s oddly comfortable. THe longer Kyungsoo thinks about it, the more he realizes that this happens quite a lot, and everytime it always feels too comfortable. 

 

He can still feel Baekhyun watching him from his seat. He pays it as little attention as he can, takes a nervous sip of wine and continues. 

 

“You know what?” Baekhyun’s sudden question startles Kyungsoo, “What?” Kyungsoo sighs, silently bracing himself for what Baekhyun could possibly ask next. 

 

“You never told me when your birthday is.” He says. 

 

Kyungsoo glances at Baekhyun, his eyes flicker down to the males empty wine glass and he turns back around. 

 

“January twelve, ninety-three.” He answers. 

 

“Woah, you’re a whole year  _ younger  _ than me?” 

 

Kyungsoo lets Baekhyun roll around in the fact that he’s older and how Kyungsoo should have been addressing properly this whole time. Kyungsoo just rolls his eyes. 

 

“Okay,” Baekhyun breathes, “What’s your favorite food? Am I allowed to ask that? Do chefs even have a favorite food?”

 

He really doesn’t stop. 

 

Kyungsoo pauses to think for a moment, “I really crave seafood these days.” He answers. Maybe not very specific, but Baekhyun is kind of right, he doesn’t really have one. 

 

“I really want pizza.” 

 

Kyungsoo can’t help but chuckle at the answer. He thought Baekhyun was going to give something deep and complex and expensive, but instead he just says pizza. 

 

“Come on, Kyungja, ask me something. Anything.” He beams. Kyungsoo turns around to glance at him, he’s pouring himself another glass of wine already. 

 

Kyungsoo hums, thinking of a simple question he could ask Baekhyun as he moves to place the noodles into the broth. 

 

“Hobbies,” He says, “What do you enjoy doing aside from… CEO stuff?”

 

Baekhyun sips thoughtfully as he thinks, “CEO stuff?” He answers, “I dunno, I don’t really do much else outside of that.”

 

“Well,” Baekhyun stops backs himself up, Kyungsoo watches his eyebrows press together and his eyes narrow as he thinks, “I play video games on occasion.”

 

Kyungsoo nods, it’s good enough for him. 

 

“So what about you? Besides cooking, what do you like?”

 

“Movies.” Kyungsoo answers almost immediately. Probably a stupid generic answer, but he doesn’t really do much else. 

 

He listens to Baekhyun talk about some new release movies he’s been wanting to watch lately while Kyungsoo strains the noodles and adds them into soup bowls. Baekhyun’s eyes light up as soon as Kyungsoo slides the steaming soup across the counter to him. Kyungsoo joins him, sitting a stool over, leaving some space, and they make small talk over some of their favorite films. 

 

Baekhyun is probably a little tipsy. He keeps giggling and rambling too long about his favorite scenes in action movies, quoting them with oddly good impressions that Kyungsoo can’t help but to laugh at. 

 

There’s a shift that Kyungsoo can’t help but to notice. Maybe Baekhyun did this on purpose. Start playing twenty questions and make stupid jokes that make Kyungsoo’s ears turn red as a way to prove his point. 

 

Point being that he wants to genuinely get close with Kyungsoo. And Kyungsoo feels it, he can’t quite pin it, but he feels the shift his heart makes and the way his pessimistic thoughts ease themselves for a moment to allow Kyungsoo enough room to laugh and, on occasion, joke back. 

 

He hasn’t felt like this in a long time, almost a feeling he’s forgotten after the stress of keeping his business open. But he knows for a fact he’s never felt this kind of shift before. 

  
  
  


Once he cleans everything up, and puts everything back in its original place, he follows Baekhyun up the stairs slowly, carefully trailing behind him to make sure he won’t fall as he limps up, slowly pulling himself up each step. 

 

He follows Baekhyun into his room, still trailing behind him slowly, pain medicine in one hand, water in the other. 

 

Baekhyun groans and he sits on his bed, “So will fixing my head be as bad as everything else?” He asks, watching Kyungsoo set everything down with a tinge of fear in his eyes. Kyungsoo shakes his head, “I don’t think so.” He cracks open the bottle of pain medicine and pops a couple into Baekhyun’s hand, followed by water. 

 

“We’ll worry about all that tomorrow. I think you’ve handled enough today.” Kyungsoo says, taking the glass and setting it back on Baekhyun’s bedside table. He was going to change the bandage on his head, but decided it against it once he saw how unnerved Baekhyun appeared to be. 

 

“Kyungsoo?” Baekhyun looks up at him with that same tinge of fear in his face, “Would you mind… Staying? Just for tonight?”

 

The shop. Paperwork. He has to check on his mom. A sudden rush of excuses start coursing through his mind and he struggles to come up with a decent one. 

 

“Uhm…”

 

“I have a guest room down the hall… If you want.”

 

He had two glasses of wine and was just given pain medicine. Baekhyun is talking nonsense. 

 

“I… Have to take care of some stuff back at the shop. I’ll be here early tomorrow morning. Before you even wake up.”

 

Baekhyun’s face changes to disappointment. He nods, tearing his eyes away from Kyungsoo and looking back up, “Promise?”

 

Kyungsoo smiles, “Of course.”

 

“Then… Can you at least stay until I’m asleep?”

 

Kyungsoo isn’t going to ask. He isn’t going to question. Baekhyun is a little wine drunk, he’s been there. 

 

He nods and watches Baekhyun shuffle over some, leaving enough space for Kyungsoo to sit down. He pats the mattress signalling for Kyungsoo to take a seat, which he does silently. 

 

He watches Baekhyun’s eyes flutter closed, “I’m sorry for causing all this.” He mumbles sleepily, “I didn’t mean to.”

 

“I told you, you aren’t being a burden. I don’t mind it.” Kyungsoo chuckles. 

 

Baekhyun’s eyes open and he stares up at the ceiling, “I do, though.”

 

“I can’t even remember how I put myself into this situation. I mean, you said it yourself, you barely know me, why should I put you through this?” Baekhyun mutters. 

 

Kyungsoo feels himself wanting to reach out, grab his attention somehow. 

 

“Baekhyun,” It feels strange saying his name. He isn’t familiar with being so comfortable like this. Baekhyun turns his head to look at him. Despite sleeping for most of the day, Baekhyun still looks exhausted, “Stop beating yourself up over something you very likely didn’t have control over.” 

 

“Trust me,” Kyungsoo continues, “If I didn’t care I wouldn’t be here right now.”

 

“Go to sl-”

 

Kyungsoo gets cut off abruptly. The light tug of Baekhyun’s fingers curling into his shirt pulls him forward and there’s a warmth of closeness that washes over Kyungsoo. 

 

Baekhyun’s lips are planted right on the corner of Kyungsoo’s mouth. 

 

Kyungsoo feels the back of his neck get hot, he freezes up, paralyzed by abruptness of it all. The closeness, the warmth, the softness. 

 

It felt like so much longer than a few seconds. Baekhyun pushes him back, stares at him for a little longer, “Go home.” He says. 

  
  


And for a second, Kyungsoo doesn’t want to. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise bbh isnt dead and I'm traumatized after having to look up references of road rash. 
> 
> The things I do for you people. 
> 
> Anyways I hope this turned out okay, I've been super stoked to write it so I managed to finish it up faster than I expected. This is the most personal that Kyungsoo and Baekhyun have gotten with each other so this chapter is opening up a whole new door. I mean with that ending, of course it is.   
> But, there were other hints I threw in that foreshadows some real juicy stuff for later WINK 
> 
> That said, I would love to know what you think! It always makes my heart do a happy dance when I hear you guys spew you love about the story and the characters. 
> 
> Also if you want special, occasional previews of these chapters, I post them over on my [Twitter](https://twitter.com.shuaversum) along with other with my stupid fat love for these two if you were interested in following me. 
> 
> oh, side note, this takes place a few years into the future, hence why I kept their birthdays the same.


	7. 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was gone for two months and didnt update this but im working on other things okay. Also this chapter has given me so much fucking trouble and I cried over it maybe twice now but it's here and it's long and it's a bit of a rollercoaster hold onto ur cowboy hats 
> 
> seriously though i really hope this is okay I know it's been a while but I haven't just abandoned this story, im working on a lot of shit rn and I'm not trying to post things Im not happy with. I really missed writing my angry confused gay restaurant man and stupid ceo and I know u all missed them too, thank you for being so patient and waiting this out for two whole ass months, it means a lot, you really have no idea.

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo was on time to visit Baekhyun the next morning, despite being up almost the whole night tossing and turning like he was a teenager in love again. He did absolutely anything to keep from thinking about the night before but nothing seemed to ease his mind. It always resurfaced.

 

Baekhyun couldn’t have meant what he did, right?

 

Once he thinks about Baekhyun he falls into a relapse of the whole scene from yesterday. The way Baekhyun was all sleepy and soft looking, the way his fist wrapped weakly in his shirt, and… The feeling of his lips pressed to the corner of his mouth. It makes his chest feel warm, it makes him feel stupid and

 

He’s okay with it.

 

He’s okay with keeping it to himself, too. But he is curious if Baekhyun if going to spill about it or not. It was a bold move and surely he has an explanation. Otherwise he wouldn’t have done it.

 

The conversation he had with Baekhyun over dinner was something that kept coming back up too. Baekhyun saying he wants to get close with Kyungsoo, saying he appreciates the things Kyungsoo does, then following all of that up with a light press of his lips to Kyungsoo’s,

 

He’s fucking crazy.

  


Baekhyun texted him earlier as he was leaving saying the list of things Kyungsoo needed for dinner should be at his door by the time he gets there, and they were.

 

Kyungsoo puts in the code to Baekhyun’s place, and is greeted with the happy little chime when the lock clicks.

 

He doesn’t expect to be greeted by silence when he walks in. It follows through the entire house and it’s strangely uncomforting. Kyungsoo calls out for Baekhyun, but when he doesn’t get an answer he decides to travel upstairs. Baekhyun might still be asleep. Kyungsoo knocks on Baekhyun’s door a couple times, then opens it slowly. His room is empty.

 

I fact, his whole house is empty. Baekhyun is nowhere in sight.

 

“Are you fucking kidding me.” Kyungsoo sighs and pulls his phone out, and taps Baekhyun’s name.

 

 _“Morning, did you miss me?”_ Baekhyun chirps. Kyungsoo can almost see the smile on his face, as if he’s done no wrong.

 

“Where the hell are you?”

 

_“What do you mean?”_

 

“What do you mean what do I mean? I’m at your house and you aren’t here.” Kyungsoo pads back down the stairs, waiting for Baekhyun to give him an answer, but he only gets silence.

 

Then he hears a familiar voice asking who Baekhyun was on the phone with and Kyungsoo has his answer.

 

“Hold on, is that Jongdae? Did you go to _work_?”

 

 _“Uh… Can we talk later?”_ Baekhyun clears his throat nervously, _“I uhm… I have a meeting. It’s really important.”_

 

Kyungsoo makes an attempt to protest but Baekhyun ends the call before he can get a full sentence out.

 

That little shit lied to Kyungsoo, took advantage of Kyungsoo leaving him alone, and went to work sick _and_ injured as if he didn’t just get in a motorcycle crash the night before yesterday. Does he expect to go a full work day without explaining the bruise on his face? Did he expect for Kyungsoo to arrive later and think he could get away scot free?

 

Kyungsoo begrudgingly carries groceries inside and puts them away, cursing Baekhyun with each trip he makes. He knew when Kyungsoo would be here, Kyungsoo texted him what time he’d show up, and chances are by that time Baekhyun was already on his way or in his office, grinning proudly at his accomplishments.

 

If Baekhyun wants to play dirty, Kyungsoo will just have to make some minor changes. He has no idea if Baekhyun’s fever even broke yet. Chances are it hasn’t, and Baekhyun is just making it worse by doing things he was clearly untrusted by both the doctor, and Chanyeol not to do.

 

Kyungsoo partly blames himself for not staying, but also Baekhyun for being a lying little fucker.

 

Now Kyungsoo is supposed to spend his time doing what, exactly? There’s no point in going back home. There’s no point in going anywhere at all, for that matter.

 

Kyungsoo ends up spending his day alone at Baekhyun’s. Ignoring every text the ladder sends him, pleading for forgiveness, saying he really did have a meeting to go to, and that he’ll explain everything when he gets home.

 

And he does.

It did occur to Kyungsoo that Baekhyun obviously has more than one mode of transportation and he drove some insanely nice Audi to and from work. When he walks in to greet Kyungsoo gliding around the kitchen, Kyungsoo almost drops his knife to the floor.

 

Baekhyun is a little pale, obviously still feverish, and looks somehow worse than he did yesterday.

 

“Jesus,” Kyungsoo breathes, “Have you taken a look at yourself recently?”

 

“Should I?”

 

Abandon all plans of yelling Baekhyun. Abort any and all ideas of what he wanted to say, Kyungsoo sets the knife down on the cutting board, “Shut up.”

 

He walks over to Baekhyun who is standing a little stiffly in the middle of the room, and drags him over to the couch, “Lay down and just… Be quiet.”

 

And he does, to Kyungsoo’s surprise, Baekhyun doesn’t try and put up a fight or argue. He lets Kyungsoo slip off his jacket and tie, and falls right onto the couch.

 

“I’m sorry.” He says, tiredly and his voice is light and weak. He’s clearly exhausted himself.

 

“Go to sleep, I’ll wake you up when everything’s ready.” Kyungsoo watches Baekhyun get comfortable and turns back to continue his work. It’s quiet, very different from yesterday evening, almost a little uncomfortable since Baekhyun isn’t asking him a new outlandish question every few seconds.

 

Just like always, Kyungsoo ignores the weight of the silence and gets everything ready while contemplating the entire time about what he’s going to have to do should Baekhyun try and sneak out again tomorrow.

 

Baekhyun is all stretched out along the couch when Kyungsoo goes to wake him. Kyungsoo must have lost track of time, because Baekhyun’s hair is a mess now compared to when he got home, a few strands stick to his forehead from the fever and his mouth is parted just slightly as soft snores fill the space.

 

It’s cute. It’s really cute.

  


Baekhyun pretty much inhaled dinner, Kyungsoo wasn’t expecting him to wolf everything down and then ask for more, but it makes him pleased. Baekhyun asked him to make Japanese food yesterday because it was what he wanted, and Kyungsoo did just that. To see Baekhyun get excited and eat more than what he was expecting means he’s getting better, so maybe Kyungsoo did a few things right.

 

He holds back everything he wanted to say about how Baekhyun was a total idiot for leaving without saying something, about his sudden move on Kyungsoo before he left last night, he left it all behind.

 

Chances are Baekhyun knows that what he did was wrong. He apologized for leaving without Kyungsoo having to say anything, but he hasn’t brought up last night, and Kyungsoo is kind of okay with that.

 

Baekhyun’s fever has gone down slightly, but not significantly and Kyungsoo can tell that he needs to keep resting, yet for some reason Baekhyun has been trying to reach for his work bag next to the couch for the past hour while Kyungsoo put everything away.

 

Apparently at some point when he turned to load everything up in the dishwasher, Baekhyun made a run to grab it from the entry hall, where Kyungsoo moved it after Baekhyun tried to reach for it the first three times.

 

“You’re kidding.” Kyungsoo watches Baekhyun slip back into the living room and onto the couch.

 

“What?” Baekhyun sits up to look at Kyungsoo from over the couch, “I have a lot of stuff to finish.”

 

“Like what? How bad is it that you can’t give it a rest for tonight?”

 

Baekhyun pauses for a minute, “It’s important.” He says, turning back around and disappearing onto the couch.

 

Kyungsoo sighs and closes the dishwasher, he can finish it later. He gets a glass of water and carries into the living where Baekhyun is already swarmed with documents and his computer out on his lap.

 

“I highly doubt there’s anything more important than your health right now.” Kyungsoo sets the glass on the table and walks to an empty spot on the couch and takes a seat. Baekhyun doesn’t look like he heard a word of anything Kyungsoo just said. He just goes through all the papers he has out and types some stuff into his computer.

 

“Hey, workaholic, are you-“

 

“Please don’t call me that.”

 

Oh, so he heard that, but not the other part.

 

“Whatever,” Kyungsoo breathes, “Put all that away. Seriously, you need to sleep, you can’t keep doing this otherwise you won’t get better.”

 

“Five more minutes.”

 

“Baekhyun, _now_ , please.”

 

There’s a few seconds of delay until Baekhyun finally lets out a heavy sigh and shuts his laptop, setting it on the coffee table, and piles up all the documents sitting around him into a folder, shoving that into his bag.

  


“Happy?” He glares over at Kyungsoo, who smiles gratefully and nods. The tense annoyance on Baekhyun’s face releases as he sinks back into the cushions and closes his eyes.

 

He sighs again, heavy, tired. Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything, just watches Baekhyun lay there for a minute before he stands up, asking Baekhyun to follow.

 

“Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun mutters, his eyes are still closed but Kyungsoo hums for Baekhyun to answer, “Do people take advantage of you?”

 

“Come on, you should go lay down.”

 

Baekhyun looks up at him through cracked eyes, “You don’t think that I am, do you?”

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t make a move to try and pull Baekhyun up from his place, either. Honestly, Kyungsoo doesn’t really know, and he doesn’t want to think about it.

 

“Answer.” Baekhyun looks up at Kyungsoo for a few seconds and closes his eyes again, waiting patiently for Kyungsoo to say something. Kyungsoo didn’t expect for Baekhyun to just come forward with this at all.

 

“I don’t know,” He admits. Because he really doesn’t. Maybe by now he should know, but he doesn’t.

 

“I think I figured out why you’re so reserved, Kyungja.” A tired smile finds its way to Baekhyun’s tired lips. They stretch out into a confident, yet still tired smile.

 

“Good for you. Now come on.”

  


Baekhyun’s smile turns into a pout and he groans, “Only under one condition.”

 

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. Knowing Baekhyun, anything could come out of his mouth right now.

 

“You let me give you another kiss goodnight before you leave again.”

 

There it is.

 

Kyungsoo sputters for an answer. He didn’t expect Baekhyun to be so… Comfortable and confident to just let that slip.

 

“I-I’m not leaving,” Kyungsoo avoids the first part of Baekhyun’s reply. “In case you try to pull another stunt like today.”

 

He shouldn’t be so nervous. It’s just Baekhyun. But it’s also a very bold move to make considering that it’s just _Baekhyun_. Kyungsoo isn’t the type to get so comfortable around people like Baekhyun, yet here he is.

 

“Oh?” Baekhyun pulls his head up from the cushions, “Well… Can we watch something then?”

 

Kyungsoo stays silent. Baekhyun weakly pats the cushions next to him, “Come on,” He pleads, “First you won’t let me work, now this? We haven’t watched a movie in forever!”

 

Sure, it’s not like a movie is going to hurt. If anything, Baekhyun will just fall asleep in the middle of it.

  


They made it 40 minutes in and Baekhyun passed out, just like last time, on Kyungsoo’s shoulder. Only this time, Kyungsoo didn’t feel like waking him up, or carrying most of Baekhyun’s weight up the stairs, so he stayed, and fell asleep right alongside Baekhyun on the couch.

 

It took him a while. Watching Baekhyun sleep so soundly and having such an unfamiliar weight on him made it hard for Kyungsoo to fall asleep. Not to forget Baekhyun’s “one condition” that’s been lingering in his mind since the night it happened.

 

It tempts Kyungsoo for a little bit, to give him just a small kiss on the head. He wants to, and he almost did, but something held him back, and instead made him do nothing except for think until he finally fell asleep with a weight on top of him that for once, didn’t all belong to his thoughts, but something much warmer.

  
  
  


 

— — —

  
  
  
  


Baekhyun’s fever broke sometime that next day and Kyungsoo couldn’t be any happier. He was able to go back home without the rooted fear that Baekhyun was having to take care of himself and his injuries alone.

 

Baekhyun, on the other hand, was very bitter. He clung to Kyungsoo that entire morning after they fell asleep on the couch together. He took advantage of how incredibly comfortable (as he said) Kyungsoo’s lap was, and fell asleep on and off that whole morning until his fever finally broke.

 

When Kyungsoo left that evening, Baekhyun was hovering over his shoulder the entire time, asking for him to stay a little longer for small reasons, and Kyungsoo almost did.

 

But, he has to get the shop back open, he’s already been closed too long, he’s already very behind in rent for this month.

 

That was two days ago. Kyungsoo has been looking over possible openings for a new gig for a while when a familiar voice come falling into the restaurant before the door even opens.

 

Baekhyun comes walking in, much more color in his face now. Only a week after his crash, and he looks a hundred times better.

 

Kyungsoo stands up from his place in front of his computer to greet him, but Baekhyun takes him into a quick hug and takes a seat.

 

“You know I want you to surprise me, get creative, I have like, an hour before I go back.”

 

“And you came all the way out here? Thanks.”

 

“You’re most deserving than the other places.” Baekhyun shrugs his bag off of his shoulder, “You have wifi, right? Can I… Have the password?”

 

“I guess. But it’s gonna cost you, I’ll be right back.” Kyungsoo turns around to write the password from the router, and hears the door open again.

 

“Hey, I already offered to buy this place out, paying for your wifi is nothing.”

 

Kyungsoo huffs, but his smiles disappears as he turns to see Junmyeon standing off to the side of the room.

 

Baekhyun doesn’t seem to care, so much mind at Junmyeon shooting glances between Baekhyun and Kyungsoo.

 

Kyungsoo silently drops the slip of paper to Baekhyun and walks to Junmyeon, who looks more confused than Kyungsoo has ever seen him.

 

“Mind explaining why the CEO of G-Light Media is sitting in here trying to buy you out?”

 

“He was kidding. He knows you already have this place. What do you need?” Kyungsoo sends a glance back over to Baekhyun, who doesn’t seem to be too interested in their conversation, and eats quietly as he works.

 

“Nothing,” Junymeon starts, “I just wanted to tell you that your offer was met by the new buyer. You’re set to be out of here by the end of next month.”

 

Kyungsoo feels all the blood rushing through his nervous veins stop.

 

He was definitely not ready to hear this. Not right now. Not with Baekhyun sitting a few feet away from them.

  


“Oh… Okay.” Kyungsoo nods once.

 

“That’s it?” Junmyeon seems surprised Kyungsoo doesn’t have anything else to add, nothing sarcastic or harsh to fight back with.

 

“What else do you want me to say? ‘Thank you’?”

 

“No, I just didn’t expect you to be so…”

 

“Don’t.” Kyungsoo stops Junmyeon from even finishing, he knows what he’s going to say.

“That’s all you needed to tell me right? You can leave, just let me know if there’s anything else that you need before then.”

 

“Just your rent for this month. All the paperwork has been finalized, assets sold, you should be getting a sum back within a few weeks just before you leave, and get your equipment out. Until then, you should start start packing your personal stuff up.”

 

Junmyeon doesn’t say anything else, just a small dip of his head, barely noticeable enough to even be considered, then he leaves.

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t turn around until he watches Junmyeon pass by the front windows. He doesn’t want to know who bought this place, what they do, what they’re planning to do with this place, he just wants it gone from his mind. He wants this weight off his shoulders now, and for the rest of his life.

 

Baekhyun tries to ask what’s wrong, asks him with that warm, worried voice if everything is okay, who was that man, but Kyungsoo ignores all of it as strides across the floor, and into the kitchen, where he puts his back up against the wall, next to do the door so he’s out of sight, and tries desperately not to cry.

 

It’s all hitting him now. His home, his last memory of his father, is about to be gone forever. Passed on to some stranger, given a new life, new purpose, something he never could do even though he tried.

 

“Hey, Kyungsoo, is everything okay? I know I shouldn’t be in here right now, but… You don’t look well.”

 

Baekhyun really doesn’t stop, and that kind of makes Kyungsoo happy, when he knows it should aggravate him. Baekhyun has grown on him, and it’s in a kind of way that he hasn’t felt in a really long time.

 

“That was the man that bought you out isn’t it?” Baekhyun asks. Kyungsoo nods, but he doesn’t look at Baekhyun, who is leaned up against the counter in front of him.

 

“Someone bought it…” Kyungsoo mutters finally, “I only have a month left here.”

 

Baekhyun stays quiet for a few seconds. Kyungsoo almost forgets he’s there, too far inside his own head to even care about what’s going on around him right now. He’s holding back so much.

 

“I thought you had a lot longer… God, Kyungsoo, I’m so sorry.” Baekhyun shoves his hands into his pockets and sighs.

 

“It’s probably a bad time to ask this, and you can absolutely decline. I just… There’s something going on at the company tonight to celebrate the opening of our first location in Busan… I kinda wanted you to be my uh… Other person?” Baekhyun’s voice gets a little quiet at the end, out of embarrassment.

 

“Like I said, you don’t have to. I figured you’d like to go, but if it’s too much stress I get it. Just know that I’ll definitely come by and see you after. Think about-”

 

“I’ll go.” Kyungsoo doesn’t look at Baekhyun, but he can feel the CEO smiling when he answers.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

Kyungsoo nods. Maybe it won’t hurt to get out for the night, try and forget what’s going on for just a little while, spend some time with Baekhyun for a few hours and then deal with all this tomorrow.

 

After spending so much time with him after the crash, Kyungsoo has started to enjoy having Baekhyun in his presence. He’s nice, he makes Kyungsoo talk, but doesn’t make it to where Kyungsoo feels exhausted or forced. Baekhyun is an interesting person, and Kyungsoo likes getting to know him, likes spending time with him.

 

Baekhyun was right that day. Kyungsoo _was_ scared that his kindness would be taken advantage of, but the more he’s thought about it, the more he’s realized Baekhyun has tried to give back for the kindness Kyungsoo showed him, not take advantage of it like others have before.

 

It’s a weird feeling to know that someone outside of his own family genuinely enjoys being around him. Kyungsoo isn’t just a stranger in the shadows to Baekhyun, it seems.

 

And to Kyungsoo, Baekhyun isn’t just some pretty CEO. Not anymore.

  


“Okay,” Baekhyun breathes, “I’ll be here later tonight. Wear something nice, not too formal though, that’s for me.” He smirks.

 

“Hey,”  Baekhyun taps under Kyungsoo’s chin lightly, prompting him to look up. Kyungsoo almost doesn’t want to. The gentleness in Baekhyun’s voice, the sincerity, it makes Kyungsoo want to turn away and shield himself from it, but he doesn’t.

 

He doesn’t look up all the way, but just enough to meet Baekhyun’s eyes, warm, and so full of hope. His hand falls to Kyungsoo’s shoulder and stays there.

 

“We’ll talk more about this tonight. I’m not gonna watch you lose everything you love. Especially if I know there’s something I can do, but you have to promise you’ll let me.”

 

Baekhyun smiles again, gives Kyungsoo’s shoulder a squeeze, then lets his hand fall back to his side, “Think about it. I’ll see you tonight.”

 

With that, Baekhyun slips quietly out of the kitchen, and Kyungsoo stays there until he hears the revving of an engine outside.

 

There’s not really a lot Baekhyun can do now. Someone’s taken up his offer on the place and is in the process of signing the papers. Baekhyun clearly has something in mind but Kyungsoo doesn’t know, doesn’t want to know what is may be. Baekhyun is better off not getting involved and having to deal with Kyungsoo’s now ever growing stress. He doesn’t deserve it.

 

Knowing he’s going to have to talk with Baekhyun, the most persistent, incessantly generous person he’s ever met, makes him want to not go to this thing even less. But even if he didn’t, Baekhyun would probably still refuse to let this go, so Kyungsoo really has no choice.

  
  


The last time Kyungsoo has ever been to what would be considered a formal event was his father’s funeral a few years ago. Sad, but it’s true. Kyungsoo doesn’t have a reason to dress nice for anything so this will be the first time even if it’s only semi-formal.

 

He almost calls Baekhyun out of sheer panic of not knowing what he should wear since his wardrobe is primarily made of the same type of clothing, almost all the same color. After some digging and moving around to try on what he has, he decides on a simple turtleneck with a jacket, dress pants because it’s a business thing. Baekhyun said not to overdo it, and if there’s one thing Kyungsoo knows well, it’s simplicity.

 

Baekhyun knocks at the door of the store as Kyungsoo is putting chairs up. When he opens it, he has to remind himself to keep a stone face. He swears everytime he opens this door he reveals a new Baekhyun, one he’s never seen before.

  


Baekhyun looks insanely good. Too good. He’s dressed to the nines from top to bottom, hair done accessories sparkling and bright against his skin. His hair is done up and falls in a comma style, outlining the sharpness of his jawline. It’s not just a suit and tie he’s wearing, either. If Baekhyun found a way to make it work, he made it look better. His tie is adorned with a heavy, glittering pendant, his suit is shiny and fits perfectly against his body, outlining the broadness of his shoulders and slim waist.

 

He looks gorgeous.

 

“I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen you wear white.” Baekhyun chuckles, “How you feeling?”

 

Kyungsoo clear his throat and adjusts his hold on the door, “Fine,” He says, opening it wider to let Baekhyun step inside.

 

“You look really nice, Mister.” Baekhyun leans up against a table as Kyungsoo finishes putting up the last remaining chairs. He replies with a quiet “thank you” and tries not to look at Baekhyun any longer as he looks around for his keys, ignoring the way his face is starting to flush when he catches Baekhyun staring at him from across the room.

 

Kyungsoo knows he doesn’t look half as good as Baekhyun, but when they show up, he immediately feels swallowed. Everyone is dressed nice, as nice as him, but somehow… Better.

 

“You really don’t have to do this.”

 

They’re still in the car. Kyungsoo has been looking outside at everyone going into the building like he’s just seen a ghost. The ride here was peaceful, they made small talk, and now that they’re actually here, Kyungsoo has suddenly felt his whole being leave his body entirely.

 

“No, it’s fine.” Kyungsoo shakes his head, “I’m fine. I’ll be fine.” He tries to reassure Baekhyun that this was not his fault, that this was Kyungsoo’s own conscious decision, and he’ll live with it because he’s grown and this is what people with real, functioning lives do.

 

It’s just a weird part of _his_ life that he isn’t used to, because of Baekhyun. It always ends up with Baekhyun, somehow.

 

When they get out of the car, Baekhyun is quick to take Kyungsoo’s hand and walk with him out of the parking garage. He tugs on it, pulling Kyungsoo in a little closer to his side, and slows their walking pace down, “People are gonna have a lot of questions for you since they’ll see you with me, you know. But you absolutely are not obligated to answer any of them, okay?”

 

“I don’t think answering a couple of people’s questions is going to be the end of the world for me. I’ll be okay.” Kyungsoo assures, “Remind me what the significance of all this is again?”

 

“We just opened up our first location outside of Seoul. _G-Light_ has expanded all the way to Busan, and tonight we’re celebrating the opening of it. Today was its first day, and it went great.” Baekhyun lights up when he talks about it, and it makes Kyungsoo smile, too. Baekhyun is a good reminder of what it’s like to have something you love and cherish. A business that means a lot to you. _G-Light_ is Baekhyun’s pride and joy, and it’s clear when he talks about it.

 

Kyungsoo nods, listening as Baekhyun talks about everything he’s gone through in trying to get the Busan location open. All the traveling back and forth he did, the meetings he went through, the interviews, all of it. It was a busy time in his life, and now it’s finally open, it’s a new part of Baekhyun’s business, a new chapter of his life.

 

Kyungsoo admires it. He admires Baekhyun’s willingness to move forward and adapt to change, to expand his ties and branch out and do something new. It’s all the things Kyungsoo sincerely wishes he could do if he had the chance.

 

Kyungsoo unconsciously tightens his grip on Baekhyun’s hand at they walk up to the building together. There’s cameras flashing, he didn’t see those before. Maybe because they were waiting for Baekhyun, Kyungsoo has no idea, but it’s very overwhelming. Baekhyun doesn’t seem to mind though, he smiles and waves and bows as he pulls Kyungsoo right past security and into the building with everyone else.

 

“Sorry, I didn’t realize there’d be this many people.” Baekhyun says once they step on the elevator.

 

Kyungsoo shakes his head, tells him not to worry about it, and that he’s fine. Baekhyun makes everything look too easy.

 

Kyungsoo enjoys his last few seconds of silence before the elevator doors slide open to reveal a vaguely familiar setting. It’s G-Light’s floor, expect louder, and darker. This is where Kyungsoo came to embarrass himself in front of Minseok, argued twice with Baekhyun, and expected to never see him again.

 

Now they’re walking in and saying hello to people hand in hand. Mostly because Kyungsoo forgot how to use his reflexes and won’t let go, but Baekhyun doesn’t seem to mind. He waves and greets everyone, bows and asks if they’re having a good night, if they’re excited about the new direction of the company.

 

Then he introduces Kyungsoo as his date. Because of course he does. If Kyungsoo couldn’t be anymore of a nervous wreck, Baekhyun confidently walking up to a group of their video producers who he knew, and saying “This is Kyungsoo, he’s my date tonight!” was the sure fire way of absolutely sending Kyungsoo off the deep end and making him go red the rest of the night.

 

Somewhere in that conversation there’s a couple of taps on the back of his shoulder, making him turn around and meet a bright, smiling face.

 

“Oh, Jongdae.” Kyungsoo has only ever met Jongdae once, and that was the night Baekhyun invited his entire company to occupy his restaurant.

 

“Having fun yet?” He asks, casually shoving his hands into his pockets as he waits for Kyungsoo to stumble for an answer.

 

“Mass gatherings not your thing either, huh?” Jongdae chuckles. He pulls his hands out of his pockets and waves from Kyungsoo to follow, “Come get a drink with me, I promise I’m not that bad.”

 

Baekhyun seems to hear this and glances at Kyungsoo brightly, letting go of his hand, and letting him go with Jongdae to the bar. Alcohol sounds like a lovely distraction as long as he doesn’t take advantage of it. He would like the last time Baekhyun saw him wasted to be the only time.

 

“I swear I only talked to you for like two seconds the first time we met.” Jongdae passes Kyungsoo his drink, and takes a sip from his own, “I already feel like we’re kinda friends though since Baekhyun never shuts his mouth. He talks about you a lot.”

 

Kyungsoo almost chokes on his drink when Jongdae says it, to make matters worse, Jongdae keeps going.

 

“He’s always smiling down at his phone like some weirdo. Everytime I ask what he’s doing he says, ‘Oh I’m talking to Kyungja’!”

 

Kyungsoo has his face buried in his hands at what Jongdae says, making him laugh and throw his arm around Kyungsoo’s shoulders, “Seriously though, how long have you guys known each other?”

 

Kyungsoo groans and straightens back up, taking a thoughtful sip of his drink. A while, but not that long. Long, but not long enough.

 

“I dunno,” He shrugs, “Like two months?”

 

Jongdae nods, “Feels like it’s longer, right?”

 

Kyungsoo nods. It’s felt like a lot longer.

 

“Baekhyun has that impression. I’ve known him for almost a decade and I swear I have to remind myself that it’s only been eight years, not a lifetime.” Jongdae has a soft smile on his face, but it’s genuine. He didn’t know he and Baekhyun have known each other for that long. Baekhyun mentioned they’ve been friends a while, but eight years… Kyungsoo marvels at that.

 

“He told me about his crash, by the way.” Jongdae speaks up, breaking their shared few seconds of silence, “I was a little pissed he waited so long to tell me but he broke when I came over to see why he hadn’t showed up to work. He told me you were there to help him, right?”

 

Kyungsoo nods, “Yeah, he called me the night he crashed, he was pretty close by. I stayed the night with him at the hospital and got him home. It wasn’t a big deal, it was fine.”

 

Jongdae nods and messes with the glass of his drink, “Thank you.” He says.

 

“For what?” Kyungsoo watches Jongdae’s smile fall as he continues to stir his drink around. He shrugs, like he doesn’t know what to say but Kyungsoo can tell there’s something he’s trying to get out.

 

“He’s really happy.” His smile is back again, lips curling up just a bit. “It’s been rough for him. I mean, you’ve seen him. Sometimes he’s a lot to handle, and he’s kind of stupid. He cares too much about the details and ends up blaming himself and then he gets hurt. You don’t seem to mind though, you take care of him, and he really likes that.”

  


Jongdae is quiet for a second and takes another drink, “‘Fucker loves the attention.”

 

Kyungsoo laughs at Jongdae’s remark and shakes his head, “I don’t mind it, really.” Kyungsoo giggles, “He’s a nice change in my life, even if he is reckless and kind of obnoxious.”

 

He’s talking to the one person who knows Baekhyun the best, Kyungsoo doesn’t see the harm in being honest about Baekhyun, especially if he’s been able to make a positive impact on his life. Kyungsoo just thought he stressed Baekhyun out, he tried to remain impassive and hide himself from the CEO, but something says Baekhyun has seen right through that, like he’s looking at Kyungsoo through a different lens.

  


Him and Jongdae talk a little longer. Kyungsoo tells Jongdae about the restaurant, his father, even things outside of his career. Jongdae listens the whole time, he asks a lot of questions, talks about G-Light, and, just like Baekhyun, lights up when he does.

 

Kyungsoo remembers Baekhyun telling him they both started this company from nothing when they were students, and Kyungsoo can feel the significance of tonight when the two of them stand up on the second level of the floor, and talk about their journey up until now. Six whole years of building something, making something that matters, talking about things that matter to them, and finding people of like mind.

 

“The hardest part about putting all this together” Baekhyun says into the mic, “Is finding people who want to write about something that means a lot to them. Finding people who care so much about something they’re willing to risk sleep for it. Not even a month ago, I spent two, tiring weeks in Busan trying to find people- People like me, and Jongdae, people especially like all of you, who wanted to share their views, express that though intense research and strong writing, and inspire more to do the same.”

 

Baekhyun pauses for a moment. Kyungsoo is standing quietly next to Minseok, who managed to wander up to him before the two went to speak. Baekhyun is practically glowing under the light pointed at them. The jewelry he has on is glittering on his skin, his eyes are bright with confidence, he looks regal standing up there.

 

“People like me,” He repeats, “Who came from nothing, and know what it’s like to live in a place where opinions are considered facts. People who broke that one sided glass, and found a new perspective. They’re all here tonight. They all made this possible. They’re all of you, they’re all of our new employees in Busan, and I couldn’t be anymore thankful to know that this has finally become something to celebrate. Thank you, all of you.”

 

The whole room erupts, people clap and cheer and Kyungsoo watches Baekhyun and Jongdae bow and and walk back down. Baekhyun has never talked all that much about his mission with the company, what it means to him, but he sees it now. He saw it in the way his eyes glossed over while he was talking, and the way he smiled when his employees startling cheering for him. Baekhyun is close with these people.

 

He isn’t just the CEO, he isn’t just their boss. He’s their friend, he’s their leader, he’s their reason and their his reason. Baekhyun and Jongdae are a pair that make this company what it is.

  


Baekhyun and Jongdae are laughing about something when Minseok and Kyungsoo find them at the foot of the stairs. Baekhyun takes one look at Kyungsoo and immediately wraps him in a tight hug. The gesture is sudden, it startles Kyungsoo considering he isn’t used to this sort of thing, but he hugs back with all the sincerity Baekhyun does.

 

“Thank you, so much, Kyungsoo.” Baekhyun whispers.

 

Again, with the thanking. Kyungsoo didn’t do anything. Not anything remarkable at least.

 

“For what?” He asks.

 

“For being here.” Baekhyun’s voice shakes just a little bit, and Kyungsoo takes upon himself to tighten his hold, “Shut up,” He chuckles, “I like seeing you alive, and I really like seeing you happy.”

 

He really does. Baekhyun’s emotions are contagious. Not just his happiness, but everything else. Seeing Baekhyun, even though Kyungsoo is not in the best place in his life, makes him feel better. Despite the stress it caused before, Kyungsoo has gotten used to the CEO and all his little quirks.

 

“These past few months have been so rough.” He mutters, “Those two weeks you didn’t hear from me was because I was busy doing all this in Busan… I’m so sorry.”

 

That makes more sense. Baekhyun never did give him a proper explanation on why he ghosted, just that he was busy with work. Kyungsoo smiles, and pulls back, holding Baekhyun by both shoulders.

 

“You were doing your job, Baekhyun. Don’t be afraid to tell me.”

 

Baekhyun smiles back, nods and pulls Kyungsoo back in again, “You’ve been a super big relief for me through all of this. I can’t thank you enough.”

 

“Just once is enough.”

  


The rest of the party goes by smoothly. Kyungsoo finds Sehun and playfully scolds him for not telling him about Chanyeol, because he’s still shocked about that. Kyungsoo spills about how him and Jongin have gotten a little too close and Sehun says he’s going to harass his friend about that the next time they see each other.  


The hours goes by smoothly. Kyungsoo forgets about everything that he’s going to have to deal with tomorrow. Pushes those thoughts to the back of his mind and only focuses on the good things. Like Baekhyun, and how happy he is.

 

Baekhyun ends up clinging onto Kyungsoo up until they leave. Throwing his arm over Kyungsoo’s shoulders, resting his chin on his shoulder, holding onto his arm, anything to keep Kyungsoo next to him, and Baekhyun succeeded.

 

Eventually he hands Kyungsoo his car keys and asks him to drive.

 

“I’m… A little tipsy.” Baekhyun chuckles, holding his fingers up just a few centimeters apart. His face is a bit flushed, now that Kyungsoo notices, and it’s cute.

 

“Baekhyun, you had like, two drinks.”

 

“Exactly.”

 

They walk out hand in hand, just as they had come in. Baekhyun exhales a heavy sigh of relief once they’re in the car, “God, I’m so hungry.” He buckles his seatbelt in and looks up at Kyungsoo, who hums in agreement.

 

“What do you want?”

 

“Something terrible… I dunno.”

 

“Something like pizza?”

 

Kyungsoo’s suggestion makes Baekhyun light up and he nods eagerly. Kyungsoo calls to get it delivered on the way back after spending half the ride arguing whose place they were even going to, but Baekhyun heavily insisted on Kyungsoo’s, and the male finally ended up caving.

 

“If you’re gonna leave so soon we might as well give that place some happy memories, right?”

 

“It’s had plenty of those. Besides, your house is way nicer.” Kyungsoo unlocks the door to his house and Baekhyun stays silent for a few seconds, then quietly, “Only ‘cause I’m barely ever there.”

 

Kyungsoo looks over his shoulder at Baekhyun as he pushes the door open. He looks tired, but at the same time he seems as if he’s walking on cloud 9. He wants to ask Baekhyun what he means by that, but it’s that invasion of personal space thing that Kyungsoo is afraid of, and instead pushes that question away.

 

“Come on, food is gonna be here soon. He tugs at Baekhyun’s hand to lead him inside, and it’s when they’re slipping their shoes off Kyungsoo realizes, “Oh fuck, you don’t have anything to change into.”

  


“Oh yeah… Guess not.” Baekhyun doesn’t sound too embarrassed by that, but he’s bigger than Kyungsoo, much more broad, too. He has no idea how any of his clothes will fit on him.

 

“Uhm… You don’t mind wearing… What I have… Right?”

 

Baekhyun huffs, “No, I don’t care. Anything is better than wearing this suit any longer.”

 

Kyungsoo nods and promises Baekhyun he’ll be back. After digging through what he has, and trying to figure out if anything he pulls out is going to fit, he settles on something simple enough and brings it out to Baekhyun after changing out of his clothes.

 

Kyungsoo finds Baekhyun slipping into the door with a box of pizza and a paper bag balanced on top and chuckles, “I bet the pizza guy was confused when you showed up to door.”

 

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, “I tried not to make it obvious.”

 

“I’ll take that… Uh, you can change in my room. I really hope these will be okay.” Kyungsoo takes the pizza and bag from Baekhyun’s hands and they switch places, Baekhyun taking the clothes happily from Kyungsoo and disappearing out of the room.

  


A head soon falls onto his shoulder and a warm body presses up behind him, startling Kyungsoo while he cracks open two beers for each of them. Baekhyun seems to enjoy skinship more and more, and Kyungsoo doesn’t mind it. But he didn’t realize he wasn’t used to it.

 

“I know I said we’d talk about all this business stuff tonight but…”  


Kyungsoo groans, now that Baekhyun brought it up it’s all he’s going to think about for the rest of the night. He’s probably going to lose sleep over this. He knows Baekhyun means well by this, but the very thought of trying to take this anywhere just makes him want to bang his head against the wall.

 

Baekhyun chuckles, and buries his face into Kyungsoo’s neck, “I know, I know. It’s late and I don’t wanna stress you out. We’ll do all that in the morning.” His breath is warm against Kyungsoo’s skin, making his grip around the glass bottle tighten. This should be illegal.

 

Baekhyun’s hand comes up and musses Kyungsoo’s hair, taking a beer and the whole box of pizza out to the living room, leaving Kyungsoo with a bag of breadsticks and flustered cheeks.

  


**\-- -- --**

  
  
  


Baekhyun is spread out on Kyungsoo’s bed, half asleep and mumbling something about the movie they watched (that Baekhyun stayed awake through this time) inaudibly. Kyungsoo is sat next to him quietly eating the last breadstick that was left in the bag and partly listening to what Baekhyun is saying about one of the actors while he scrolls through his phone.

 

“Kyungja, did you have fun tonight?”

 

Kyungsoo glances over to Baekhyun, who is looking up at him with those sleepy eyes he’s become more and more familiar with, and nods, “It was fun. I enjoyed it.”

 

“That’s good. I wasn’t sure how you feel about stuff like that. You looked like you were having fun… But I just didn’t want to assume.” Baekhyun rests his forearm over his eyes.

 

“You… Watched me?” Kyungsoo chuckles watching as Baekhyun’s arm falls away from his face and into Kyungsoo’s arm, “Shut up, I’m not some weirdo… I was just… Concerned.” His arm goes back to cover his eyes again, or maybe the flush on his cheeks, maybe both.

 

“Whatever you say, weirdo. Go to sleep.”

 

Baekhyun hums and kicks his legs up and down like a child, “I’m not tired yet. I wanna keep talking to you.”

 

“Why?” The question wasn’t meant to sound degrading against himself, but it does anyways. Kyungsoo is genuinely curious, and while they’re here, it wouldn’t hurt. Even Baekhyun looks a little taken aback by the promptness of Kyungsoo’s question, glancing back at him looking slightly more awake now.

 

“Because…” He mutters, “I like talking to you?” His voice raises as if it was a trick question, and it makes Kyungsoo giggle.

 

“Okay, but _why_?” If Baekhyun wants to drag this on, then Kyungsoo has no problem with it.

 

Baekhyun goes silent for a few seconds, staring at Kyungsoo like he isn’t sure what he means, but Kyungsoo can tell he’s got an answer.

 

“I just do…” He answers finally, once again putting his arm over his eyes.

 

“Tell me something, Kyungja. Anything.”

 

Kyungsoo huffs, and rolls his eyes, ignoring Baekhyun as he eats the last bite of his breadstick, but to his surprise (it really shouldn’t be), Baekhyun prods him, “Come on,” He whines, “Just tell me _something_. I don’t care.”

 

Kyungsoo goes goes silent as he thinks. He knows Baekhyun won’t really care what he says, as long as it’s something he can keep a conversation going with, but still, Kyungsoo is picky.

 

“I’m proud of you,” Kyungsoo glances down at Baekhyun, a bashful smile grows slowly on his face, “Come on,” He groans, and waves his hand in the air to try and get Kyungsoo to stop talking about him.

 

“No, seriously.” Kyungsoo drops his hand to his lap, “I don’t think I’ve told you that yet, but… I really am proud of you, Baekhyun.”

 

There’s silence between the two of them for a moment, Kyungsoo still unsure if he should carry this on, and takes it upon himself to do so anyways. Baekhyun deserves to hear this. It’s his night, he’s worked for this, he deserves to hear it even if Kyungsoo is just another face in the crowd.

 

“I know we haven’t known each other for a really long time. Not as long as you’ve known Minseok, _definitely_ not as long as Jongdae, but… I’ve come to know you a little better. I think anyone can tell you’re really dedicated to what you do, and you make sure that you find people that are dedicated, too. And that’s important in any business, no matter where you go. I think having a dedicated leader who knows what’s best for those around them is… Inspiring.”

  


Kyungsoo shrugs, “You’ve always been a very genuine person, I can tell. I mean, you’ve donated your money and your time to causes that really need it. You started this company from the ground up with a goal in mind, and you haven’t strayed away from it. Instead you just work harder to make it true to what you envision. Goals like that are important, because they keep you on your feet, it reminds you of why you started all this in the first place…”

 

Kyungsoo takes a breath, he can feel Baekhyun staring at him but he doesn’t look back,

 

“I know I’m not one to talk about running a successful business but… Once upon a time it was my parents that ran this place, and they knew what they were doing.”

 

“That… Thank you… So much.” Baekhyun smiles, he’s looking up at Kyungsoo with that stupid bright smile of his. The one he gets when he’s really happy. Like he has been all night.

 

In some other universe, Kyungsoo probably would have kissed Baekhyun by now. The stupid, good looking, really fucking cute, CEO. He hates that he likes him. He hates that he’s denied liking him ever since he came stumbling into Kyungsoo’s establishment that night. He hates that all he’s thought about since a few nights ago is kissing Baekhyun.

 

“Just so you know…” Baekhyun stretches his leg out and pokes Kyungsoo’s with his foot, “I think you’d be a great business owner if you were given a proper chance. I’ve seen what you can do. What you can _really_ do… You just need a chance to show that people.”

 

That’s a lot coming from one of the country’s most successful people. That’s something that Kyungsoo has heard before but has never really believed because he can never tell if people say it just because or if they truly see more in him than he does in himself.

 

“But,” Baekhyun sings as he turns over on his side, back facing Kyungsoo, “I’m just a pretty businessman, right? What do I know?” His tone is clearly sarcastic, making the both of them chuckle before silence falls. They stay like that for a while, until Kyungsoo flicks his light off, thinking Baekhyun is asleep and turns over so his back is against Baekhyun, but when the CEO whispers Kyungsoo’s name, he sighs, “Why are you awake?”

 

“Thank you,” Baekhyun’s voice is tired, but Kyungsoo can tell he’s smiling, “For being my date tonight… And for coming with me despite what’s going on. I- Thank you.”

 

Kyungsoo smiles, “It was fun, thank you for inviting me.”

 

“Also, thank you for letting me sleep in your bed.”

 

“ _Baekhyun_ ,”

 

“Okay, okay. Goodnight, Kyungsoo.”

  


Kyungsoo doesn’t fall asleep immediately despite how tired he he is. He lies there for a while, loses track of time, and eventually find himself in his office to continue losing track of time while he goes through papers that he really wishes he could put a flame to.

 

He doesn’t do any work though, Kyungsoo just stares at everything. Too tired to really do anything productive, he just sits hunched over his desk and reads and rereads everything in front of him. He tries to process what Junmyeon said today, tries to remind himself this was his own doing, his own decision, with perfectly sound reasons, but somehow he can’t help but to get angry at the world.

 

“Late night reading?”

 

Kyungsoo jumps and piles up all the papers frantically, looking over at the familiar body leaned up in the doorway.

 

“Uhm, I was- Yeah…” Kyungsoo watches Baekhyun push himself off the doorframe and walk across the room. Kyungsoo’s fingers tighten around the papers as he watches, “Why are you awake?”

 

Baekhyun sits halfway on the edge of the desk, lips pouted as he thinks, “I was riddled with awful nightmares.” He says finally, “It happens.”

 

Before Kyungsoo can even ask, Baekhyun jumps to get the first word again, “I should be the one asking what you’re doing up.”

 

Baekhyun glances down quickly at the papers in Kyungsoo’s hands then to Kyungsoo, eyebrows raised in question.

 

“I couldn’t sleep.” Kyungsoo lies the papers flat and rests his head in his arms on top, “Sorry about your nightmares… I didn’t know you had them.”

 

“It’s fine,” Baekhyun huffs. Kyungsoo hears him push himself off the desk and soon a warm hand is sliding up and down his back, “Let’s go, you shouldn’t be up worrying yourself about this. It’s not healthy.”

 

No, it isn’t. But he can’t stop thinking about it. Staring at it and trying to understand it all isn’t going to make anything better. It’s not going to give him any more answers.

 

“Come on, Soo, you need to sleep.”

 

‘Soo’. He hasn’t heard anyone call him that in a really long time. The last time he heard anyone call him that he was breaking up with an ex and that was a couple of years ago.

 

Hearing Baekhyun say it feels much different than the hundreds of times he heard it said to him before. It feels better. Having Baekhyun coax him out of this awful ha it feels better than being told he’s wasting his time. Having Baekhyun ease him out of his office, and back to bed is a million times better than being alone and forcing himself to do it.

 

Baekhyun is quiet as he climbs back into Kyungsoo’s bed after getting him to lay down, and the office light turned off. Kyungsoo apologized maybe a dozen times between there and here, in his bed, facing Baekhyun.

 

“I’m so sorry.” Kyungsoo breathes, closing his eyes, hoping that his exhaustion will get the best of him.

 

“It’s okay,” Baekhyun says. A familiar hand finds Kyungsoo’s and takes it. A different kind of warmth floods through his body and immediately makes him feel right where he needs to be.

 

“You’re okay, you’ll be okay.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please tell me this was okay oh my god i struggled to write this so much but im so happy its done yay for digging deep into both these dumbass characters 
> 
> also if you didn't already see, I took part in my very first fic fest which u can find [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/1forALL_RoundONE) it'd be rlly cool if u read my story and supported the other authors too
> 
> I also changed my twitter handle so if you want to follow me [THIS one](https://twitter.com/obaektwt) will work, the others previously tagged that im too lazy to go back and change will not, so .. dont click those.

**Author's Note:**

> I do a thing on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/shuaversum) if you want to follow me, we can talk about dumb stuff (i need friends)
> 
> next chap may be up next week (yay for getting work hours cut before christmas lol) since i'll have time, demon from the cradle might be up as well, unsure right now as im trying to get something new out before the end of the month.
> 
> As always, please let me know what you think in the comments (I always reply), it helps keep me motivated! Thank you again for reading, your support always means more than you think!


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